Natane

Sheffield Technology Parks up at Attercliffe offer virtual servcies http://www.shefftechparks.com Also, depending on your budget and exactly what you need and how often, BT's own 1571 Online service is free, or you can pay £1.50 a month for personalised 1571, and it takes messages for your own landline number which you can dial in and listen to, and also you can log in to your account online and listen on your PC/laptop remotely, if you have internet access. Furthermore, you can set it to send you a text msg everytime a voicemail message is left on your landline. This is probably ideal if you are out and about and so your own landline can take msgs and let you know by text that you have a message, then when you are free, you can then call people back who have left the message. You only pay for the text msg cost form this. I use it for my home messages and its great to know that even when I am not at home I am alerted when someone is leaving us a voice msg, especially important ones.

Omnia Offices on Queen Street offer virtual office services which includes providing you with a unique tel no and they answer the incoming calls in your company's name and take/forward messages. You can also use their Queen Street address as if it were your own business address and they forward you the mail. Prices start at £45+ VAT per month. http://www.omniaoffices.co.uk.

im selling an unused/boxed netgear rangemax 240 wireless cable router £50 and a new boxed/sealed netgear rangemax 240 adapter card £40 (see the for sale section) or both for £80. Both are high speed and I have the ADSL version of this (I bought the wrong one and didnt figure it out for weeks!). I have perfect connection every time and along with Tiscali as my ISP, have never lost connection or had any down time etc with either the ISP or equipment. Id recommend the card for a laptop and not the usb adaptor as the silver connector gets hot and bends and then causes intermittent connection problems and then finally stops working. I had two and Netgear had to replace one; other one got stolen but it had same problem. little wonder they are half price, whilst the card remains the same price a year later!

my sons laptop picks up our wireless connection without an adaptor and i didnt need to configure anything to do that.

You will need vehicle insurance with buisness use (there are different classes pending on what you do). You also need liability insurance etc - this is to cover your business not the van. Depending what waste you are carrying, you may also need a licence for tipping. I cant remember what its called but phone the council and they can advise you on that. Phone around and get quotes. Hiscox are bit more expensive but Ive heard they're the best on cover for businesses. Be aware that not all insurances companies offer the same cover even though they are cheaper. Cheap is NOT best and avoid the confused.com and compare.com sites. The top 5 pay the most to be at the top (bit like google adwords!) and although the price looks the cheapest on screen, when you call them up to buy it, they say that actually thats not quite right and you end up with a dearer quote! Probably not all like that but most definately a lot are. Its just a caution. Also when you buy the policy, read the small print in the claims booklet within your 'cooling off period' - usually 14 days. Cancel if it's rubbish on claims. I got stung switching to Churchill on home insurance... we got burgled and didnt expect not to be covered for over £300 cash being taken from the bedroom, yet everything else was covered. It was because the entry was not 'forced and violent'! My son also switched to Prudential for car insurance and if you make 1 claim and then find you want to cancel your policy for any reason, you get NO refund! Norwhich Union and Churchill do refund unused parts of the year if you cancel after a claim. My duaghter also has an outstanding claim from someone who reversed into her and his deniying liability and she is with Churchill and we are having to chase everything to sort it, even driving to places to identify and get witnesses! We will go elsewhere in future, probably back to Norwhich Union, as Churchill dont actively pursue your claims, you have to do all the chasing and claiming, and you get no calls, letters or follow up to deal with or close on your claim. The advisors also tell you different things that are incorrect and contradictory.

If you are suspended pending an investigation it should normally be with pay, assuming you are suspended due to a grievance/disciplinary action. As the outcome cannot be officially determined until they have gone through the procedures, you should still be paid. That said, I am not en employment law solicitor. Your employer should give you written details about this if you are suspended without pay, and you can check with ACAS.

I would have been interested but really I have to have my own office due to the nature of the business and my clients, for Data Protection reasons. (ie I cant be discussing names, addresses, personal details over the phone when someone else not connected to my business is in the same room, but definatley if it was another type of business I would have been interested.

Hi you say you do it for free, but i have never know any business go prospecting new business and charging to quote - there is no option but to do it for free or you would never be in business so I have never understood the 'free quote' thing. Its an old gimmick that doesnt work as no one has ever paid for a quote, so you might as well use that space on leaflets and ads to say something better. For instance you would get more response if you put (for example) "25% of our customers are repeat business" or 30% of our customers refer us to family or friends". These facts instill a sense of trust if you can back them up with real testimonials. Tradesmans quotes are no different to any other businesses whereby you have to market to your potential target, make appointments or receive requests to go see potential clients, they sometimes cancel or reschedule last minute, and you will only win 1 out of 10 if you're lucky enough to quote. As you say this is time consuming and ineffective. The way to cut down on timewasters (if thats what they are) but more likely, to target the kind of customer you want, is to target different customers and with a different marketing approach. For instance, it costs 6 times more to find new customers than to retain your existing ones, so one way is instead of spending lots of money (in this instance, your time) as well as leaflets or adverts that cost money, use the value in others ways such as giving a discount only to your previous customers for their next job, or 20% off when recommended by another customer, or 15% voucher to pass to their family or friends. (these are just sample %). Calculate per week/per month how many hours you spend in total giving quotes (ie travel time, time at their house/premises, time at home to tally up quote (if a big job) and when you have your total figure times it by your hourly rate. Could you give half that away as a discount in order to recieve more quality leads that convert to sales and fill up your working week? The way its going in business, is that you have to give in order to receive. There are plenty of cheap and innovative ways to target customers who are more likely to buy your goods or services. PM me if you'd like more details.

the interviewer may also have been thinking ahead, and thinking this person might be good enough to progreess to do this/that in the job. I have done that, seen potential and thought yes, once they learn this/that etc I can have them doing more interesting things, be more involved, etc. but you dont mention that too early on, its just how you see things could progress with the right things in place.

I didnt realise bank details were required on a CRB form either! Id get the form checked out.

Ideally, the question should have been dealt with when it was raised at the interview, it being a 2 way process, but without asking, its pointless jumping to conclusions and seeking advice from ACAS and CAB when the employer hasnt been given a chance to explain. Hopefully as this was only posted Friday you have had a chance to call them today and ask the question and get it sorted, but if its a good job then its also a good incentive to ensure you pass your test and see it as a positive thing. Keep us updated!

When working in certain areas of public services, it has always been standard procedure to prove your ID and do a CRB check. A lot of commercial businesses also do this now. This isn't about proving your ID its about proving you have no criminal history, because it makes sense to ensure you hire the right people. Also, you have to prove your ID because an employer can now be prosecuted and heavily fined if found to be employing illegal workers. And the only way to prevent that happening and to cover themselves is to make the necessary checks. Or put another way, if you were hiring a childminder to look after your children (if you have any) would you think it a good idea to check their ID and get a CRB check done, or would you happily hire them without checking? Or, if you are putting your money in a bank, sending in private detials to the council, or your mortgage lender, etc etc would you like to think only honest people are handling and processing your personal data such as your bank details??!! I know I would. Hope this perspective helps to make up your mind. Its all about security and its just the way things have become. At least you dont have to give fingerprint and retina ID just yet!!

Princes Trust funding is for people under 31 years of age and is mostly in the form of low interest loans (about 3%) sometimes with a low repayment to start with. Less rarely, they offer a start up grant but its not very much in relation to what you will actually need. The funding available to people living in deprived wards is called NES (for burngreave, pitsmoor, sharrow, etc etc) and is aimed at disadvantaged people i.e. unemployed, disabled, single parents, etc. It offers eligible people upto £1500 towards start up costs. Also, if you have been unemployed over 6 months you could be eligible for New Deal for Self Employment, whereby you can 'test trade' for upto 6 months and still receive your benefits plus a little extra, without any penalty or obligation if it doesnt work out. You can be actually be on all 3 schemes at once if eligible for them, or maybe just 2 of them. So you are not limited to applying for just the one scheme if you fit the criteria for all 3. visit http://www.senta.co.uk for more information on all the schemes above or phone 0114 281 4621. They offer free advice and training for anyone from novice upwards. Good luck.

how did your interview with Norwich Union go the other day?

So who is the landlord of the building? Im assuming sub-letting is allowed so would there be a proper tenancy agreement in place? And is there a minimum rental term?