Dan Adams, co-founder of legal services provider, Arbor Law, explores the opportunities available for a lawyer with an entrepreneurial mind. From the start of my career as a lawyer, I knew I wanted to do things differently. Early on, I felt confined to the proverbial cupboard, spending my days dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s of contracts. While important, this lacked fulfilment for me. I craved the challenge of building something, of creating value beyond the predictable grind of traditional legal roles. Entrepreneurial lawyers are defined by their willingness to take risks, their hunger for growth and their ability…
Author: sme-admin
As new workplace protections raise costs for SMEs, Catherine Greslow, Founder and Fractional Operations Director at Formative Consulting Ltd, looks at how founders are turning to part time executives and specialists to stay compliant, agile, and competitive. Introduction The UK’s new Employment Rights Bill is being described as the biggest shake up in workplace law for a generation. From my perspective working with founders and leadership teams, it’s also the source of creeping anxiety, higher costs, tighter obligations, and less room to manoeuvre. The principle behind the reforms is simple and right, fairer protections for workers from day one. But in practice, smaller…
Authored by Jonathan Cooper, Founder & Director of The Director’s Helpline and The Director’s Choice. Running a business can often feel like steering a ship through unpredictable waters – markets shift, costs fluctuate, and unforeseen challenges arise. For small business owners and sole traders, it can be difficult to know whether they are on course for sustainable growth or heading towards stormier seas. This is where a business health check becomes invaluable – a vital tool for ensuring stability and resilience, giving leaders the insight to make confident, informed decisions. Clarity in Uncertain Times When a business begins to experience…
Small businesses are grappling with significant hurdles when it comes to hiring, new data has revealed. Insights from Talent Hub – a new resource to support micro and small businesses with no HR department, found while half of small businesses polled had hired staff before – only a third (33%) said they were confident to hire again. Economic uncertainty and an increase in the cost of employment are key considerations behind the decision, but on top of that, 75% of small businesses cited a lack of adequate training resources as the primary barrier to recruiting and retaining staff, while 25%…
Newland Payment Technology (NPT), a global leader in the supply of high-performance digital payment terminals, has announced the launch of its S90 Android SmartPOS series. The new range – S90, S90 Pro, and S90 Ultra – delivers advanced performance and flexibility for merchants worldwide, with the Ultra version supporting 5G connectivity for markets where high-speed networks are available. The announcement coincides with NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show in Europe, where Newland showcased its wider portfolio of SmartPOS solutions. Engineered for both countertop and mobile use, the S90 series sets a new benchmark for high-speed payments acceptance combined with unrivalled customer…
By Daniel Morgan-Williams, Founding Director of Visualise Training and Consultancy Working in the workplace adjustment space, we see this quite often. An employee requests an adjustment to remove a barrier, and instead of a constructive conversation, the request is blocked. The justification usually sounds familiar: “It’s not reasonable,” or “If we do it for you, we’ll have to do it for everyone.” But too often, what’s really happening isn’t about reasonableness at all — it’s about control. Line managers, HR teams, and senior leaders act as gatekeepers, making subjective calls on what counts as ‘reasonable.’ And yet, under the Equality…
Recently Canon released its new Insight Report, titled ‘Exploring the Future of Print’, which seeks to understand the changing behaviours of brands and consumers and the impact these are having on the way that print is used and how print service providers operate. The research uncovered five key themes: print’s unique selling points (USPs) in a digital world, how brands can exploit these USPs to reach consumers, AI’s increasing role in print production, why sustainable production will be vital for future success, and the value of forward-looking partnerships. It is the latest report in a series from Canon that, over…
UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are embracing digital tools at an unprecedented rate, investing in software designed to streamline operations, improve collaboration and drive growth. The most recent SME Digital Adoption Taskforce Final Report highlights that fragmented technology adoption can limit productivity and growth, with many businesses struggling to integrate multiple platforms, maximise usage and manage associated costs. “In response to specific business requirements, many SMEs have invested heavily in multiple tools. However, this is often done without consideration for integration or clear adoption strategies, which means, the very technology intended to improve efficiency becomes a source of operational drag,” says Stephen Cook,…
The Corporate Governance Institute warns that corporate leaders can no longer hide from digital image and the viral scrutiny that might come with it. In today’s digital age, it is almost impossible to brush over viral moments as social media, AI tools and the 24-hour news cycle have resulted in a new governance and executive risk outlook. Technology has made it impossible to avoid viral moments and public scrutiny. Any moment caught on camera and worthy of content could become a turning point for a company, regardless of whether it is during work hours or a private night out. According to Ciaran…
UK SMEs are shifting their marketing strategies, with LinkedIn now outpacing email as the primary source of B2B leads, according to new insights from The Marketing Centre. The findings reveal a significant realignment in how small and medium-sized enterprises are approaching lead generation, as traditional email outreach loses ground to more dynamic, relationship-based channels. The findings, comprising of insights from over 100 Fractional CMOs working with SMEs across the UK, found that businesses are increasingly turning to LinkedIn for organic content, direct messaging, and targeted advertising. This reflects a broader trend toward platforms where engagement is more direct, and conversations…