Long-time NCF member Diane Lewis has just taken up an exciting new opportunity, one that she feels like she’s been waiting for most of her life! But becoming a franchisee is not without its challenges, too, so we asked Diane to tell us more. Who are Barking Mad? The Barking Mad Dog Boarding service […]
Diane’s gone ‘Barking Mad’! Read More »
There doesn’t seem to be a day go by when we’re not hearing about extreme weather events, risks to wildlife or news about sustainable power generation, all issues around our changing climate. Climate change is a fact (on which around 99% of scientists agree). Yes, the Earth’s climate has changed in the past but never
Net Zero Homes: how to get there Read More »
NCF member Adam Penny has worked in insurance for more than 30 years. Along the way, he’s seen the good, the bad and the downright awful when it comes to policies. Fortunately, as an Insurance Consultant and broker, he can give the benefit of his experience to his clients. As most NCF members are small
Insurance for small business owners: top tips Read More »
The Making Tax Digital (MTD) agenda has been around since before the pandemic but the effects of Covid (amongst other things) have meant that its introduction has perhaps not been quite as plain sailing as HMRC might have hoped. Fortunately, NCF member Chas Milner of Accord Accountants is on hand to keep us abreast of
Making Tax Digital: upcoming changes for small business Read More »
Did you know that National Apprenticeships Week is celebrated each February? NCF member Claire Sutton has been working with apprentices for about 25 years so took the opportunity to give us an update. She has also written this helpful guide to essential information for employers and potential apprentices, along with lots of links to places
A Quick Guide to Apprenticeships Read More »
Or: Printers’ jargon explained! NCF recently enjoyed a talk – well, it was more of a hands-on session, really! – from member Ainslie Chivers, the Print Lady. Ainslie brought in a range of recent projects she’s worked on so we could all touch, feel and see just how impactful print can still be in a
The Power of Print Read More »
NCF member, Belinda Butler of Pazzazz Me, was our speaker at a recent online networking meeting. Having ‘threatened’ to put us all through our paces on several occasions, what fitness and dance instructor Belinda actually gave us was a twenty minute ‘taster’ of one of her Movement and Mobility classes. These fairly gentle exercises are
Ten moves to keep you moving! Read More »
Networking Chandler’s Ford were pleased to offer a warm ‘virtual’ welcome to Tim Brock, our local area representative for the Federation of Small Business (FSB). Tim used his guest speaker slot at our recent online networking meeting to update NCF members on the many ways that FSB support smaller businesses. Did you know that the
Things you never knew the FSB do! Read More »
NCF member, Neil Paulley of Byte Laptop Repairs, recently shared his top tips for smaller businesses. Here are the details of what he said. When you run your own business, especially a small business, there is so much to think about. Whereas larger organisations often have the staff or resources to outsource some tasks, small
IT Tips for small businesses Read More »
NCF Members Rob Dewing of Northerwood websites and Claire Sutton of Minerva Marketing have joined forces to update us on some of the technical and marketing things we can do to help achieve the best SEO we can – and it’s often simpler than you might think. The ‘holy grail’ of search engine optimisation (SEO)
How to improve your website’s search engine ranking Read More »