Entrepreneur Chris Maslin, founder of Go EO, has launched a tool to allow business owners to take the first steps to explore the possibilities of an employee ownership trust (or EOT). The EOT Explorer is a free engagement tool designed to make life easier for those who are considering how to exit their business. “This free, online tool, with no contact details required, is for people to assess how suitable they/their business are for an EOT. I genuinely think it’s great and we have had some brilliant early feedback,” Chris, who lives in Kent, said. Chris’s experience with employee ownership…
Author: Greg Robinson
There’s something electric about being in a room full of women in business who just get it. The ones who’ve built empires from their kitchen tables. Who’ve sent invoices with shaky hands. Who’ve cried happy tears after their first sale… and real ones when things fell apart. That’s the energy behind The Solopreneur Awards – the first national awards night devoted entirely to female-led solopreneurs. And this year’s theme? The Audacity Era. Because that’s exactly what it takes to build a business on your own terms. Audacity. Grit. Vision. And a little bit of delusional magic. This is a movement,…
Actor Tom Holland unexpectedly swung into a business conference from the set of his new film ‘Spiderman – Brand New Day’ to talk about his new no-alcohol brand BERO. The actor has long been candid with his fan base about his decision more than three years ago to cut alcohol out of his life and go sober. He talked about not having a dependence on alcohol but more a realisation that it was playing too significant a role in his life, and he was concerned it was robbing him of time and more authentic experiences. So he went sober in…
Forbes Solicitors specialises in working with SMEs across the UK. The firm’s commercial team has analysed data from the past year to determine the top five most frequent causes of business disputes affecting SMEs. These include contractual disputes, professional negligence, disagreements on debts, shareholder and director disagreements and Intellectual Property (IP) infringements. Stephen McArdle, Partner and Head of Commercial Litigation and Business Disputes at Forbes Solicitors, looks at the underlying factors of each dispute and shares insights about how company founders and leaders can protect their interests. 1) Contractual disputes There are many varied causes of contractual disagreements, with the most…
Running a successful business and reaching both your short and long-term goals takes out-of-the-box thinking, thoughtful planning, and consistency. Whether you’re new to business ownership or you’ve been running a business for years, ensuring you’re always taking the right steps towards success is crucial. With that in mind, here are five recommendations for business owners to establish success. Prioritise Financial Management From budgeting to forecasting, staying on top of your company’s finances is essential to establish a thriving business. As a business owner, you should be reviewing income and expenses regularly, tracking profit, and investing in reliable accounting software. One…
The team at SME Today are thrilled to share that we are media guests in Las Vegas this week, having been invited by Oracle for their annual NetSuite conference. NetSuite was the world’s first Cloud computing software company and offers a flexible solution designed for business which integrates many functions including financial management, inventory and supply chain management, CRM and more functions. It’s very well known in the USA and is making inroads into the UK market too. It’s 27 years old and has its HQ in Austin, Texas. Oracle acquired the company almost ten years ago. This week, its…
Why SME owners are struggling with their mental health The evidence shows that small business owners are disproportionately affected by mental health issues compared to the wider population. Largely driven by the stresses of owning and operating a business, SME owners are susceptible to a range of mental health problems. A study from SimplyBusiness found that 80% of small business owners have suffered with poor mental health at some point. Almost two-thirds suffered from anxiety, with 38% reporting depression and 22% reporting feelings of loneliness. Financial concerns are common too – with 19% of SMEs thought to be unable to…
Grassroots platforms highlight gaps in UK’s small business ecosystem The exponential growth of two British Asian business networks, from 219 members in 2016 to over 170,000 today, signals that minority entrepreneurs are building parallel infrastructure outside mainstream business support systems. Zamiha Desai, founder of ProfessionalAsian and RecommendAsian, will receive an MBE at Windsor Castle in November for services to the British Asian community. But the recognition comes as her networks reveal a structural problem: British Asian SMEs are creating their own ecosystems because existing ones aren’t serving them. “We didn’t set out to build an alternative business infrastructure,” Desai explains.…
Most offices have a coffee corner. For SMEs, that corner carries extra weight. You’ve got fewer people, tighter budgets, and no spare hands to fuss with machines. Yet those two-minute pauses shape the day: mood, focus, the tone of quick chats before the next task. Why the coffee point matters for SMEs Micro-breaks work when they’re easy. In a small team, the knock-on effects of a slow or unreliable setup spread fast: a queue forms, someone gives up, the pause turns into a gripe. If the machine is quick, consistent, and always ready, you get a steady rhythm — step…
2025 is a year that will go down in history for many things. The year AI became truly ubiquitous, a year of geopolitical realignment, a pivotal moment in the reshaping of global supply chains and, perhaps less recognised, one of the most opportune moments in recent history for companies to transition from tenants to owners. The fact is, for many businesses in 2025, the decision to purchase commercial property isn’t just about location and square footage anymore – it’s become a strategic move that can offer a range of financial, operational and long-term advantages over renting. Andy Jansons, of Jansons…