Andrew Murphy from the Federation of Small Businesses UK (FSB) talks running a business post-lockdown. We talk trends in business and lifestyle, explore the experience of founding and growing a business. Most importantly, we discuss how it is OK to ask for help, how covid actually fostered networking and how we are better off sticking together.
The Federation of Small Business UK (FSB) is an undiscovered gem in the wild world of running your own business. Whether you are a freelancer or whether you employ a team - we feel there is so much support available in an FSB membership and hope to see more take advantage of it, so they can focus on their day jobs.
About the show:
Problem Busters is a show that explores solutions to the biggest and the smallest of problems. Hosts Jonathan Goodwin and Oliver Happy discuss making the world a better place with guests from far and wide.
About our guest:
Andrew Murphy is a Small Business Champion at the Federation of Small Businesses UK. A career at PwC led him to start his own removals business in London, which ultimately led to a lot of lessons in starting and growing a business. He is passionate about the importance of small businesses to our economy and community as a whole.
Show mentions:
- Starting off in PcW in Consultancy
- Started his own business, a removals business - ran it for 15 years, then sold it and moved to the FSB
- It was the Uber for removals - perhaps a bit before its time.
- 04:30 The challenges in building a business, and in hiring and managing staff.
- Remote staff management is one of the most difficult parts of the growth of the business.
- Finding good people is one of the hardest part of growing a business in my experience.
- Then looking after them and welfare is right up there with hard work.
- I had a friend in HR, but eventually realised we needed help with that.
- The Federation of Small Business (FSB) knocked on the door, and I was getting a lot of contacts at the time, but this guy made a good point and the offer was really strong
- A not for profit who helps small businesses.
- He talked about HR support, documentation and legal support, and it made a lot of sense to me as a business owner.
- 07:30 Small business owners want to be spending more time on running the business, not doing all the other paperwork.
- FSB has been running 45 years, has over 165,000 small business members.
- There is at times a disconnect between central government and small business.
- Example: The creation of the Furlough scheme, via the powerful lobbying voice of FSB, and a chap called Mike Cherry.
- It has supported a lot of businesses during the pandemic.
- The FSB legal hub was super helpful to me, had a series of documents in a library, we had access to an HR representative at no charge, and at one point, we had to visit the Employment Tribunal and they supported us through the process. We were not at fault, but it was great to have someone there to hold our hand through it all.
- 14:00 What would I do differently next time? I'd get help from people like the FSB earlier. You've got to know when to ask for help.
- What steps could people listening take to reach out and get assistance? Have a look at the website and all the services provided.
- Tax investigation protection is a part of the membership (an important one in coming years)
- Small businesses are the backbone of this economy. 70%+ of employers and an important part.
- We're not talking a lot of money for this membership, and every bit of revenue goes back into supporting Small Business - £147 per year (based on the number of people in the business).
- We have a lot of sole traders who are members. Sole traders also have legal obligations, tax returns.
- We cover right up to...
