Keeping your costs under control is a vital part of the financial management process for any business. But with 

 in the UK market, it's more important than ever to have complete oversight of your overheads, expenses and other operational costs.

The greater the depth of your spending and cash-flow information, the more prepared you can be to dodge the current and future pitfalls of increasing costs and falling margins. And with a robust funding strategy in place, you have the capital needed to flex and pivot as costs increase.

 to help us understand what’s driving these ongoing increases in the most basic business costs? And where do you start when it comes to getting your spend management under control?

What’s driving this increase in basic costs?

UK businesses are facing a number of challenges as we head into Q4 of 2021. Having weathered the Covid storm and come out the other side, companies are now being hit by significant rises in costs of raw materials, goods and services – and this is putting cash flow under further strain at a time when government financial support has mostly been phased out.

 has jumped up from 5% to 12.5% for hospitality businesses, and the only remaining government financial support, the 

, is due to end in December 2021. So, a steady increase in costs, and an associated rise in expenditure, is not what most founders, entrepreneurs and CEOs want to see.

, such as steel, timber and even cardboard, are soaring, driven both by global issues in the supply chain, the impact of the pandemic on logistics and, in the UK, the additional issues created by Brexit.

Budgeting for recovery in an uncertain market

Having got through the pandemic, your key goals at this point in 2021 are no doubt to 

 and to regain a focus on growth, expansion and new business goals.

 had begun to sprout in early 2021, this economic growth has 

 – driven in part by the ongoing supply chain issues the UK is experiencing and the increasing costs we’ve already highlighted.

The economic challenges to your recovery are already there, but there’s also the potential concern of another Covid winter and the possible impact this could have. Will we see further lockdowns? Will a rise in infections cause even deeper staff shortages? Will some sectors be faced with mandatory closure and zero revenues once again?

There are plenty of ‘what-ifs’ for you and your advisers to consider – and it’s this level of uncertainty that should be driving a change in the spend and cash-flow management mindset.

The simplest way to deal with economic uncertainty is to 

. No cash forecast can act as a literal crystal ball, but what robust forecasting can do is give your business a cash framework to build on – and this will be invaluable as we head closer to 2022.

Much of the standard management information you’ll see in your monthly reporting pack will be historical information – numbers from the past. These are useful numbers, allowing you to track your financial metrics against your targets and measure performance. But what historic numbers 

 do is show you what’s coming down the track.

Being able to project your numbers forwards in time offers a whole new level of insight when it comes to managing costs and keeping cash flow on track.

If your business isn’t currently making use of financial projections and detailed cash forecasts, now’s the right time to rectify this oversight!

 have their own basic cash forecasting tools built into the software, and add-on apps like 

 all offer flexible ways to generate projections and forecasts or run through different levels of scenario-planning.

Cash-flow forecasting is also available within digital banking apps, 

. And even a basic Excel forecast can reveal amazing cash insights when used to track your basic cash inflows and outflows. So, there’s really no excuse for shying away from the benefits of forecasting.

Learn how to create a basic cash-flow forecast

 or speak to your accountant to find out how they can help you get in control of your costs, spending, and future cash flow.

Since launching in 2005, the Enterprise Nation team has helped thousands of people start and grow their businesses. Led by founder Emma Jones MBE, Enterprise Nation continues to be the most active UK small business community and a leading campaigning voice for small business. Joining Enterprise Nation connects you with resources, community and connections you need to reach your business goals.

The challenge of higher costs: how good cash-flow forecasting reduces the risks

Forecasting is becoming an increasingly important consideration...

 talks through how to turn uncertainty into success. 

Resilience has been a business buzzword for several years now. Indeed, ensuring your business is resilient enough to weather the slings and arrows of economic misfortune has long been a priority for any CEO.

But in the wake of the pandemic, businesses are surrounded by more fear, fog and stasis uncertainty (FFS) than ever before. In fact, according to one study, 50% of CEOs cited uncertainty as the greatest threat to their business. And the majority agreed the most important factor in outperforming their peers was their tolerance to uncertainty (UT).

But these days we need more than resilience, we need to develop the skills to fight back. By understanding the true role uncertainty plays in 

 ways to think - we can all turn uncertainty into success. But how?

Fear has the power to stop you in your tracks. But if you compare your short term fear with the long term regret of missing out - uncertainty doesn’t look so scary after all. When we put this to the test, 80% of our Uncertainty Experts audience said their greatest fear was failure; yet 85% said the regret they most wanted to avoid was missed opportunity.

Once they’d reframed their fears against the risk of regret, by the end of the show, 90% said they wanted to embrace uncertainty.

what are the costs of giving in to fear, what missed opportunities might those fears lead to? Write it down if it helps and when you weigh them up, what’s really worse - fear or regret?

What do all superheroes have in common? Well it’s not a cape, it’s an origin story and the same is true of us. Based on our experiences, our brains update the way they predict the world. But if you can find the benefits in the adversities you’ve overcome, your brain will learn to embrace challenges and see them as lessons. If we reframe our attitude to tough times, then whatever doesn’t kill us, really can make us stronger.

: what are the greatest adversities that you’re proudest to have overcome? What are the best lessons (or powers) you’ve gained from the times you thought you’d enjoyed the least?

Our brains love to be negative, always worrying about worst case scenarios, and these thoughts can be overwhelming. Of our 60,000 thoughts a day, 85% are negative and yet less than 3% of our worries ever come true - many of which we often handle better than expected.

rather than dwell on the negatives, can you focus on possible positive outcomes and silver linings? This helps calm your anxiety and over time builds your confidence.

Being with other people reduces anxiety avoiding behaviours, much like chocolate and wine. Human connection triggers oxytocin which makes us happier. But if you want to level up and push anxiety down, widen your circle to include different world views. Your brain absorbs other people’s experiences, widening your perspective and increasing your patience.

are you at your best on your own, or with others? And how do you go about making friends with people you might enjoy disagreeing with?

According to ONS data, over half the UK is experiencing anxiety. However, science shows that sharing your anxiety will give you more control over it - any feelings of shame will be reduced by the acknowledgement you’ll find in others. That’s why The Uncertainty Experts encourage speaking openly about your experiences.

 what are you comfortable sharing about your anxieties? Try it out, even on social media. The next time anxiety knocks, don’t keep it to yourself.

Uncertainty is the biggest driver of anxiety, 

creativity! We can’t control uncertainty, but we can train our brain to increase its response to it. Like a muscle, small regular exercises or experiences in uncertainty will lead to greater mental adaptiveness, and less likelihood to be thrown off course by the world's ever-changing events.

Rip up your routine, order something you never try, take a route home you never have. If you can surprise yourself regularly, you will develop your mental strength.

In support of all our Enterprise Nation comrades, we’re offering 20% off our next online interactive session in November. Your anxiety drivers will decrease and your tolerance to uncertainty will increase. Please visit 

Lucy runs The Wern a PR &amp; design consultancy for entrepreneurs and HypeYourself.com a DIY platform to learn how to do you own publicity and brand building.

What to do when resilience isn't enough

We are PR consultancy that specialises in startups and small businesses

How do we understand the true role of uncertainty?

After a very successful 17 years in the world of corporate sales,

decided it was time for a change, and has since founded two brilliant consultancy brands: 

. She is also one of the most popular and sought-after advisers on Enterprise Nation.

Rachael talks us through her background, her businesses, and how being an Enterprise Nation adviser has taken her consultancy services to the next level.

How have you made the pivot from a long and successful career in sales to founding two very successful companies focused around business support?

“So, I worked for Autotrader for around 17 years, and although I loved that company (I was completely indoctrinated into that organisation), like many people in a longstanding corporate career, I didn't know there was a world outside of Autotrader - I thought LinkedIn was just a recruitment platform. I didn't know about networking, I didn't know about anything, I just was very focused on my career in that business.

“There were a number of reasons why I left, but the main one that probably a lot of the Enterprise Nation community can relate to is I just had a baby, who was 18 months old, and I couldn't balance life and work and travel.

“So I left, and luckily, I managed to leave in a really good way, with a bit of a pay-out, being really honest, and that bought me some time. So I went networking, and I started to hear what my local community in Devon really needed, and all the small businesses were telling me that they couldn't grow their sales, they couldn't hire good sales people, and even if they did hire good salespeople they couldn't train them, they didn't know how to induct them, they didn't know how to bring in a CRM system to manage sales data to hit sales targets.

“And my background was exactly that: hire salespeople, train them up, coach them, make them high performers, and empower them to go out and do an amazing job, and my weekly sales target was just under £2m, so I had 60 staff out there, visiting 13,500 car dealers, selling them advertising - that's what we were doing: selling them digital marketing solutions, advertising, helping them to sell cars.

“When I left and I started to hear what the local market needed, I just knew straight away that I had to set up a training consultancy that helped small and medium sized businesses to hire, train, coach and create high performance sales teams.

“I actually got headhunted by a local company who wanted me to go in as head of commercial, and I did that for eight weeks and I doubled their revenue in that time. But I needed to get out of there as fast as I arrived because their culture and values weren't aligned with mine and it just wasn't a good cultural fit. But the fact that I doubled their revenue was all the confidence I needed to just go out and start on my own.”

That really shows the power of being proactive and networking!

“It's absolutely vital. When you say networking, I think a lot of people visualise a crowded room of people drinking tea and coffee, or beer and wine, whichever kind of networking, but a crowd of people huddled together, buy for everybody in that space feeling comfortable, there are two or three that don't, and a lot of people fear networking

“But for me, I just see a room of people that need something. That's all I see: a room of people, whether that's an online room or a face-to-face room of people that all need something, and unless you ask the right questions, you're not going to know what they need and you're not going to know why they need it.

“So, the key thing about networking is you've just got to realise that you have value to give, other people have value to give, and you're not going to be able to collaborate and work together if you don't ask the right questions. So for me, that's all it is: just showing up and making friends, asking the right questions to find opportunities, or allow opportunities to find you.”

In terms of starting your own business, did you always have that bug since you were young? Or was it a sudden epiphany?

“I didn't have that bug. My dad was self-employed, and he would come home every day and talk about earning money, buying and selling and that just didn’t ever occur to me.

“I had a very academic school. I went to a girls’ grammar school, I went to college - it was all very academic and going into corporate seemed like the right thing to do.

“So you know, I would always be looking for promotion and looking for the next pay rise, looking for the next way to add value in that environment, but I didn't ever have the entrepreneurial bug until I started networking, and I could see how much there was, people that needed my services, but there were people everywhere that needed every service!

“It was just a case of joining the dots and introducing the right people. And so I got the title of a bit of a connector because yes, I was out there looking for business for myself, but I would be able to hear other people's opportunities and say: “oh, you should speak to 

 you know” and I would introduce people, and the more that you do that the more people want to hang out with you, because they say that if you hang out with Rachael, she's going to make something happen for you.

“So, yeah, there's opportunity everywhere but it wasn't always in my blood. I’m not a natural risk taker. I'm not somebody that would gamble with my money or take big risks, I tend to only stay within the boundaries of what I know I can be successful at. Well, that's how it used to be, now I'm a little bit more gung-ho.”

Tell me a little about your two businesses

“So, the first business that I started was called 

. It is a training consultancy and when I say training consultancy, I mean that the training is all bespoke, so we have some courses that are off the shelf, and we train companies on leadership, sales, customer service, communication skills, resilience, time management - all the soft skills that people need in business to do well.

“What we did was we would go and work very closely with HR departments and leadership teams, and figure out exactly what was going on with the team that they had and how they wanted that to be different, and then we would build very bespoke, tailored training programmes that were sometimes a half-day workshop, and other times a 12-month full leadership programme, and we would go and build those services for them so that they got the outcome that they needed.

“We also had coaches and mentors that were specialists in particular areas, and I grew a team of associate trainers and coaches, up to about 10, so that we could really react and respond to all the needs that were out there and then of course the delightful Covid came along, didn't it.

“And so, because 90% of the work that we delivered was face-to-face, events, whether they were open events in hotels where we sell tickets to individual entrepreneurs or we would go into businesses and train 20 of their staff.

“Either way, it was all face-to-face, other than probably about 10% of our business. And so COVID came along, and we migrated a lot of our training into virtual classrooms. So, we got very, very good at using Zoom, at using Breakout Rooms, all the functionality that you get in applications like Zoom and Teams and got really good at doing that as well.

“But of course, people were being furloughed, and you can't train people that aren't at work. So we did lose money quite quickly. And so, me being me, got resourceful, and I offered the southwest business community free training for anybody that was on furlough. I built this little training group where people would just dial into calls with me, and I would coach them through how they felt about being furloughed, and they were all really worried.

“They felt like rejects, they felt like their bosses didn't really value them because they'd been furloughed and of course we know that that isn't really what was going on. The companies were just trying to survive, but that's not how it felt to them. So, I put a lot of time and effort into helping those people that were furloughed, and in doing that, I was just staying busy, I wasn't being paid, it was just staying busy and being seen in the community as being somebody that was helpful, somebody that was supportive and helping businesses to survive.

“I started to become very aware of the online coaching space, and how there were a lot of women in the online coaching space who were trying to start businesses so that they could have a family life, look after their kids, balance all the things that a woman in business has to balance. Without being sexist, the reality is a lot of the women are doing the doing the child-related work, looking after the home and that's just the way it is, and when they start a business, they really struggle, they really struggle with their mindset, they really struggle with business skills, they struggle to sell their services and market their services.

“So, I started to become very aware of that, because I was delivering this free training online. And I just got sucked into it. I realised that there were all these women out there that needed my help, because I'd already proved that I could sell my services online and offline - I could find people to buy what I had to offer.

“I started to help these ladies and that's where the second business got birthed. My Sales Mentor is the second business, and I now have clients in America, Canada, all around different countries in Europe, and I help women to set up coaching businesses and consultancy businesses, and to sell their services.”

If you could give your younger self three useful tips, what would they be?

“I’d say the first one is: make mistakes as quickly as you can. Just don’t worry about anything else, messy action, just get stuck in, make mistakes as fast as you can.

“I would say go and find people that have done what you want to do, ask them questions, hang out with them, pay them for their coaching services, whatever it is you need to do to get near them - get in their space, because the fastest way to learn what you want to do is from somebody that's already done it.

“Have them help you, so that would be the second one: go and find somebody that's already done what it is that you want to do.

“And the third would be about self-belief. One of the biggest things I’ve suffered from every single day, is really believing that what you have to offer is worth what it's worth, because there's a common mistake made that when you think about pricing your services that you're pricing yourself, but you aren't, because you're not for sale, and we're not selling ourselves, we're selling the output that we can help somebody to achieve. So it would be about really understanding what your unique gift is and how that can impact somebody else.”

When did you first become aware of Enterprise Nation, and why did you become an adviser?

“Well, it was actually somebody at Enterprise Nation that put a post on LinkedIn. It was Amanda. Amanda posted on LinkedIn, saying that she was looking for sales trainers, and quite a few people tagged me and referred me and said you need to speak to Rachael!

“And so, I got a message from her saying: “I've had so many comments on my LinkedIn post, but you're the one everybody keeps referring, can we have a call?”

“So, we had a call, and she asked me to get involved in some training that you guys were doing, and then said you should only do that if you're an adviser. So, can you become an adviser?

“That's how I became an adviser. I was made aware of Enterprise Nation by a few of your advisers, people that have previously won awards and really rated your services. So I guess I was accelerated a little bit to the point where I started delivering workshops and webinars for you, which got good engagement and good feedback, and then that led to me being asked to do a few more so I've done a few interviews for you guys and run quite a few Lunch and Learn sessions, Q&As, and some masterclasses, too.”

Returning to Enterprise Nation, do you have any stand-out success stories from small business owners who have benefitted from your services as an adviser?

“I've got a few actually. I've been working with some ladies who are Enterprise Nation members who've joined me on my group coaching programme, who up until this point haven't been able to design and build online courses, and I've helped them to do that.

“When I say ‘help them’, I mean help them to structure the course so that it's transformational and that people actually complete it and get an outcome, but also the tech involved in online courses - I think a lot of the time people are really attracted to online courses because they can see there's a lot of money to be made, but you then realise that actually there's a lot of tech; you've got automations and emails and all sorts.

“One of your advisers is working with me on my group coaching programme and she's building a series of online courses, and together we're building marketing plans and audience growth plans, and really making sure that she gets to be seen in the market that she wants to sell those courses in.

“Then another one of your advisers is brand new to the online space, didn't have an Instagram account at all, didn't have any social media presence at all. Now she's got it all going on, she's got her social media, she's putting posts up, she's in Canva, she's feeling confident to create graphics, she's in a little accountability group with me, and she's making progress every single week, she set up her email list, she has set up lead magnets – so there are some real good standout stories from some of the people that are in my programme.”

How has being an Enterprise Nation adviser benefitted you personally?

“Well, it's allowed me to grow my audience and grow my community. It's allowed me to win new clients, to sign new clients into some of my services.

“So, the two most popular services that Enterprise Nation has helped me to grow have been my one-hour service, which is all about one hour spent on helping somebody build their online business model.

“A lot of people are very attracted by the online world, but they don't really know how to build a business model to make it in the online world, not just what to sell but how to get the audience to see it, want it, buy it and tell other people about it. And that's what I love to do - I deliver a one-hour service and quite a lot of Enterprise Nation community have come and worked with me on that service.

I&apos;m Enterprise Nation&apos;s content manager! If you&apos;re an adviser who would like to write a blog post and feature on our website, please get in touch.

Content Manager

Rachael Howourth: "being an Enterprise Nation adviser has allowed me to grow my audience and community"

Online small business meet-up: Devon

Find your tribe at a friendly, informal meet-up for small business owners in Devon

Online small business meet-up: Bristol

Find your tribe at a friendly, informal meet-up for small business owners in Bristol

&lt;p&gt;Hi. We’re 24 fingers, an award-winning digital marketing agency.&amp;nbsp;We help small business owners&amp;nbsp;who are all fingers &amp;amp;&amp;nbsp;thumbs with their&amp;nbsp;marketing to grow their brand. Founder Emma Goode is the&amp;nbsp;proud Local Leader for Enterprise Nation in Essex.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Whether it’s getting more leads from social, increasing brand awareness or engaging with your customers, our fingers can help add extra digits to your bottom line.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We work with start-ups and companies both big and small, as well as individuals who need a helping hand navigating the ever-changing world of social media. We know how difficult it can be for businesses to keep up with all the algorithm updates.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Coming from a copywriting and publishing background, our expert team of content creators also know just how powerful great content can be. Just ask the 26 million people who saw our ‘Nostalgia’ campaign for one of our clients. That was achieved without spending a penny on paid advertising too. Powerful stuff, eh?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Whether you need an SEO strategy,&amp;nbsp;help with social media management, advice on what to blog about,&amp;nbsp;how to get more sales from social, or you fancy coming along to one of our practical social media training workshops, our hands are here to support you and your business, whatever stage you’re at.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Click here to book your&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://calendly.com/24fingers"&gt;free Strategy Session&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

Managing Director

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Watch back: Why authenticity is the answer to your business success

We’ve all been in situations where we have tried to be something we are not, or have tried to fit in with a certain group. When that happens, we might be able to walk the talk, but we know on some level that things don’t feel right. The same goes for our businesses and especially how we market ourselves and talk about what we do.

Being an entrepreneur means we are often doing things for the first time, so if we don’t check in with ourselves, we can end up trying to fit someone else’s model of who we should, especially within a certain industry.

Not only does it require huge amounts of energy to keep up this facade, but it can lead to cynicism, disillusionment, despair and even burnout.

But there is another way! Watch back this recorded Lunch and Learn, to hear adviser 

  discuss how being authentic is all about connection to yourself and your values.

Before setting up my own coaching and mentoring business in 2008 I was involved in running businesses for over 20 years, mainly in the retail and healthcare industries
I worked with large organisations such as Neal’s Yard Remedies and Planet Organic as well as many smaller companies, and was the Executive Director of a charity for several years. I founded and developed a number of social enterprises including a cross-party think tank and in 2016 I helped set up a not-for-profit peer to peer business support network. I am currently a member of the Charter for Women In Business.
Throughout my career within the business and social enterprise world, from customer-facing roles to senior management, to becoming a CEO and running my own businesses I have gained valuable insight into the issues which business owners face. I write about many of these in my <a href=&apos;http://www.businesscoachingsussex.co.uk/blog/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>blog</a> and was recently voted one of the Top 100 Business Coach Bloggers.

Business Owner

Lunch and Learn: Why authenticity is the answer to your business success

It’s crucial that small business owners are aware of basic legal requirements and documents in order to run and grow a successful company.

Within this session of our ‘Meet The Advisers’ series in partnership with

we were joined by a panel of legal experts who answered questions on key topics including intellectual property, contracts, standard terms of business and people matters.

Meet the advisers: Legal

Learn how to master your small business legal basics

Watch back -  business.connected: Five ways to manage your social media effectively

In this free 60 minute business.connected workshop, programme adviser and digital expert, 

will offer key insights into how you can manage your social media to reach new customers.

Boost your digital marketing skills further with free business courses provided by Facebook's e-learning platform, Facebook Blueprint - which can be accessed for free via 

Vodafone's V-Hub digital support platform

Sign up to business.connected

Katherine George is the founder of the multi-award winning, international social media agency Oh So Social, which provides comprehensive social media management, training and mentoring services. Katherine is one of just 8 Facebook Blueprint Lead Trainers in Europe and one of 24 Facebook and Instagram accredited #SheMeansBusiness mentors in the UK.
Both Katherine and Oh So Social have won a string of awards, including being named in Cornwall&apos;s 30 Under 30 list three times, and worked with a number of prestigious accounts including The Queen’s Birthday Book and the global success that is The Man Engine project. Prior to founding Oh So Social, Katherine managed social media campaigns for the award winning Spanish Riding School of Vienna, the Dancing on Ice Live Tour and members of Team GB.

Director

Five ways to manage your social media effectively

Katherine George is the founder of the multi-award winning, international social media agency&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ohsosocialmarketing.co.uk/" rel="noreferrer noopener" tabindex="-1" target="_blank" title="https://www.ohsosocialmarketing.co.uk/">Oh So Social</a>, which provides comprehensive social media management, training and mentoring services. Both Katherine and Oh So Social have won a string of awards, including being named in Cornwall's 30 Under 30 list twice, and worked with a number of prestigious accounts including The Queen’s Birthday Book and the global success that is The Man Engine project. Prior to founding Oh So Social, Katherine managed social media campaigns for the award winning Spanish Riding School of Vienna, the Dancing on Ice Live Tour and members of Team GB.&nbsp;

Top tips on how to plan and manage social media for your business.

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