Find out what we've been up to in recent months at CBC.

INSIDE THIS EDITION

CAROLINE BOARDMAN CONSULTING business news and current offers.

CLIENT FOCUS: Find out more about Helen Calvert, her coaching business, admin agency and her amazing podcast.

SUMMER Tax tips, the 5th SEISS grant and 30 free hours childcare.

CBC business news and current offers

Autumn 2021 already! I hope you've all had a gorgeous summer. 

We are looking forward to onboarding 15 new clients this month (they have all been waiting patiently on the waiting list over the summer). 

The CBC support team is still growing with support now from 3 freelance bookkeepers, Sabrina, Sarah and this month we welcome Liz to the team. 

We are also working closely with Helen, Sam and Victoria from the Clear Day team. And as always Emily's admin support is still a huge help. I'll also be calling in more help this quarter from Lisa Clennell on customer focused marketing and Sarah Steinhoefel will be helping with some copywriting too.

What's been happening?

• We are now almost half way through the tax year and 30% of my client tax returns are filed. We'll be busy working on the others this quarter.

• We've also been working on and filing company accounts and corporation tax returns. If you have a Limited Company, your year-end will be different to the April to April tax year and so will the deadlines, so as a practice, we are always keeping on top of this for clients too.
• Following the pandemic, it seems more people are choosing to work as employed and self-employed... either starting a side hustle, or taking on employment to gain some financial stability alongside their established business. I've had a lot of questions around this so wrote this article this month, i hope it's useful for some of you 7 helpful tips for your side hustle | LinkedIn
• I've been running my "Profit Workshop" in the OEC FB group and for the Found and Flourish community. This is based on the principles set out in Mike Michalowicz's "Profit First" book and is essentially a great cash management system for small businesses. The book in by a US based author so i've tweaked my teachings for UK small businesses. It's been well received. Please let me know if you are interested in hearing more. 
• A further 8 clients have reached the £85,000 turnover VAT threshold, so their VAT registrations have gone in. If you think you may reach this milestone soon, or if this is your goal, have a read of this one 5 Things to Consider if You’re Approaching the VAT Threshold. | LinkedIn and don't let it worry you or slow you down... the sky is the limit for these clients now. 
  
• I have continued my walking coaching with Gill Parton. and she's been helping me to develop my workshop ideas. Watch this space for more info on all of that, hopefully this side of Christmas! 
  
• I've been reading a lot of personal development books and attending money mindset and funding workshops - all in the interest of helping my clients to grow their businesses. My favourite one this quarter was Chillpreneur by Denise Duffield Thomas which has loads of useful tips for marketing your business, outsourcing, money mindset and growing your business without increasing the number of hours in a day! Right up my street. See my Instagram grid for more on this, i shared my thoughts over 5 days at the end of July https://www.instagram.com/p/CR...
• It was our birthday! We were 3 on 5th September 2021. To celebrate I've booked a photoshoot at the end of the month with Emma Boyle (a great brand photographer, who luckily lives round the corner from me). Lots of plans for year 3 of CBC.

Current CBC offers

• I'm still offering the annual FreeAgent accounting software licence to all clients for £150 per year for sole traders and £210 per year for Limited Companies. Let me know if you are interested. 
• Tax investigation insurance is also  still available at £100 per year. If you would like more details of this, please let me know... it can be paid monthly September to January at £20 per month and covers you for my time in the event of a tax investigation. It also gives you access to the Markel tax and legal team.
• If you are on Facebook, I really encourage you to join us in the OEC Facebook group where we have regular posts every weekday, including a Friday afternoon social (which turned into a lovely networking event, in person at Blend in Sale in July). Next one in October. You can participate in all, some or none of the discussions, as you find useful. We want this group to make your life easier, as is our aim with all our business services. It is an exclusive group, and as such members can only be invited or added by me or Helen. The group also has a FB live video every Wednesday afternoon. If you would like to get involved, please let me know.
• Next FreeAgent training will be on Tuesday 21st September at 10am with a client talks session in the afternoon and an opportunity for networking too. Get your ticket here Caroline Boardman Training Tickets, Tue 21 Sep 2021 at 10:00 | Eventbrite Clients, get in touch for a free promo code.
• First OEC retreat will be on the weekend of 2nd October. with just a couple of spaces left. Get in touch to hear more.
• Next OEC networking will be on the afternoon of Friday 15th October. You can get your ticket here OEC cafe live! Another face2face event. Tickets, Fri 15 Oct 2021 at 13:00 | Eventbrite

CLIENT FOCUS

This month it's my business buddy (and mutual client) Helen Calvert of Clear Day.

Clear Day exists to help small business owners find calm and clarity so they can focus on making progress.

There are a few ways that you can work with Helen...

Clear Ahead Coaching

Clear Day coaching with Helen Calvert is the answer to anxiety and overwhelm for ambitious women business owners.

Helen offers four coaching programs that address different aspects of the challenges of owning a small business.

Each program is 6 sessions long and is rooted in self-compassion, working with who you are and what works for you.

Ready to feel calmer, more confident and get to where you want to be? email helen@clear-day.co.uk or book a call below.

Are you a woman running your own business? How many of these statements are true for you:

• I often feel anxious or overwhelmed
• I struggle with feeling like an imposter, imagining at any moment people will find out I don’t know what I’m doing
• I am not sure what to do next to grow my business
• I want to expand my business but I’m terrified at the thought of managing people!
• I have loads of ideas but I can’t seem to follow through or get anything completed

If one or more of these statements are true for you, it is time to book in with Helen for a 6 session coaching program.

Headspace Session

A 1 hour coaching session with MOE Foundation certified coach Helen Calvert. Ideal for untangling your thoughts and gaining clarity on the issues with which you are struggling.

Business Growth Packages

Do you have a fantastic idea for a business but no idea where to start with getting it off the ground? Is your business in place but you’re unsure how to progress to the next level? Are you overwhelmed with the day to day of managing your business?

Our Business Growth Packages combine our admin, marketing and coaching expertise to help you and your business to thrive. We have three main packages depending on your requirements, and can also create a bespoke package suitable for you as an individual.

I have signed up for a Bespoke package from October which includes 1 hour coaching with Helen each month, social media support from Sam and admin support from Mel (all on the Clear Day team).

PA and VA services

We offer PA and VA services from £30 per hour.

So what can a Clear Day PA pick up for you? The short answer is, pretty much anything, but we’ve grouped some of our most common tasks into different headings below. If you don’t see what you are looking for that’s not to say we cannot assist, so please do book in a call to discuss your specific requirements.

And if you want to hear more from Helen, she has a fantastic PODCAST The No Bullsh*t Guide to a Happier Life - podfollow.com where she talks in bitesize chunks about topics such as ORGANISATION, LEADERSHIP, MINDSET and BEING THE BOSS.

CBC's AUTUMN TIPS

TAX TIPS

SEISS GRANT no. 5

The deadline to claim this is fast appraching. And if you do want to claim, you will need to know your sales figures for the last 2 tax years (even though the 2020/21 tax return deadline for filing is still months away - 31st January 2022.

Remember that these grants ARE taxable and must be included in your self-assessment tax returns. If your profits are over the tax-free allowance, you will pay tax at 20% and NI at 9% on the grant amount received.

See my previous newsletters dedicated to this subject (one sent earlier this week).

Please get in touch if you have any questions about this info@carolineboardmanconsulting.co.uk

30 HOURS FREE CHILDCARE

You may be able to get 30 hours free childcare if you live in England and your child is 3 to 4 years old

NB. There are different schemes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

9 things that catch out the newly self-employed

The childcare must be with an approved childcare provider and stops when your child starts in reception class (or reaches compulsory school age, if later). You may have to pay for extra costs like meals, nappies or trips. You can apply online for a childcare account to get a code for 30 hours to give to your provider. 30 free hours

You can get 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year (during school term time). You may be able to get free childcare for 52 weeks if you use fewer than 30 hours per week. Check with your childcare provider to find out if this is something they offer.

Your eligibility depends on all the same factors as Tax-Free Childcare as per point 1.

You can apply from when your child is 2 ¾ years old. You are entitled to 30 hours free childcare the term after your child turns 3. Check with your childcare provider to find out the exact date your 30 hours free childcare starts.

You have to reconfirm your eligibility every 3 months. If you apply more than 3 months before the term starts, you’ll have to reconfirm your eligibility in your account in order to keep your code valid.

If you are applying for 30 hours and someone else already claims Tax-Free Childcare for that child, your application will be unsuccessful.

Once your application has been approved, you’ll get a code for 30 hours free childcare to give to your childcare provider.

I have recently discovered first hand that you CAN get 30 free hours childcare at the same time as getting Tax-Free Childcare which is a double bonus :-)

I'm currently claiming the 30 free hours for Imogen, so if you need any help with any aspect of it, please send me an email info@carolineboardmanconsulting.co.uk

See my full family friendly tax tips article here:- My 5 family friendly tax tips | LinkedIn

FREEAGENT TIP

Do you use "Capture for Later" in FreeAgent? If not, you should. It is SUCH a time saver.

Try it by opening the FreeAgent mobile app on your iOS or Android device and log in using your FreeAgent login details Tap the green ‘+’ at the bottom of the screen to access the ‘Add new...’ menu and select ‘Capture for later’.

The camera on your device will open automatically within the FreeAgent mobile app. If you haven’t used FreeAgent to access the camera before, you will be prompted to give FreeAgent permission to access your camera and photos.

Next, take a photo of the receipt or bill that you want to capture. You will then be prompted to add a ‘File name’; you should choose something that will make the file easy to identify. Then select ‘Save to Files’.

The image will then be saved to the ‘Files’ area in FreeAgent.

If you do this, let us know and we will then do the rest in FreeAgent and attach each receipt to the relevant transaction.

At the moment you have to enter all the details from the receipt in manually but a new feature (which I’ve been asked to be part of the testing for FreeAgent) is coming that will “auto-extract” the data so keep an eye out for that. Thank you to those of you who volunteered to help with this testing.