Guides for running a service business

Chasing late payments

A practical escalation for UK businesses chasing unpaid invoices: terms that work, when to chase, statutory interest under the Late Payment Act and what to do before small claims.

How to take card payments

Card readers, tap to pay on a phone, payment links and online booking payments compared for UK service businesses. What each costs and which suits your average ticket.

Going VAT registered

What changes when a UK service business crosses the VAT threshold: the registration test, what it does to your prices, the Flat Rate Scheme and Making Tax Digital.

Writing a cancellation policy that holds up

A short, fair, enforceable cancellation policy for a UK service business. What notice period to set, what to charge, where to show it and how to apply it consistently.

What to put on an invoice

The details a UK invoice must carry, what changes once you are VAT registered, how invoice numbering has to work and how long to keep the records.

Getting your Google Business Profile right

The free listing that decides whether local customers find you. How to set it up properly, what actually moves you up the map pack and the mistakes that bury you.

How to get more reviews

When to ask, how to ask and why most businesses get this backwards. Plus what you are not allowed to do under UK rules on incentivised and fake reviews.

How to respond to a bad review

What to write, what never to write, when a review can actually be removed and why one negative review among many does less damage than you think.

How to get more local clients

What actually brings new customers to a UK service business, in order of return. Referrals, local search, rebooking and why most social media effort is misdirected.

Surviving the quiet months

Every service business has a dead period. How to plan cash for it, what to sell in December that lands in January and what to do with the empty hours.

Running your business

Hiring your first employee

What a UK service business must do before someone starts: PAYE registration, a written statement of particulars, pensions, employers liability insurance and right to work checks.

Running your business

Chair rental or employment?

The trade-offs between renting a chair to a self-employed stylist and employing them, why the label does not decide the status and what each means for your business.