Services > > More ADMIN
ADMIN services
Think ahead
'A penny saved is a penny earned' - Benjamin Franklin 1706 to 1790.
Why take the trouble to earn money and then let it slip through your fingers? Good admin is more than 'paper shuffling'. In a parasitic and litigious world money that you think is safe can disappear without warning faster than a rat up a drainpipe. Many so-called respectable companies exist to rip off the unsuspecting — and it's all legal.
Hope for the best - plan for the worst
Entrepreneurs by definition are enthusiastic and optimistic risk takers — and that is often their downfall.
They definitely need someone in the background nitpicking, dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's. All kinds of events can derail a nascent enterprise: contract variations, technological advances, government policies, national and international financial shocks. There are also companies that prey on new start-ups in all kinds of ways.
Your contract
Kerb your enthusiasm! Carefully think about what services you intend to offer — and make that clear in the pre-contract documents.
Set out the limits of your responsibility. Establish default positions. State payment terms and the consequences of late payment. Establish who is actually responsible for payment (it's not always obvious), who are the parties to the contract and who are merely agents or middlemen? What constitutes force majeure or frustration and what actions will thus be triggered?
Their contract
You have done your job well and put in your bill. Yet no payment is forthcoming. What could possibly go wrong? If your client is incorporating your product into something they are selling-on they may have a clause in their contract that says you only get paid if and when they get paid. Your client's contract might say in their 't&c's 'in any agreement our terms will prevail' over yours. Did you read the small print on the back of their order form? In some cases, with some clients, a dispute is inevitable so make sure you are in possession of all the facts at every stage of delivery of the contract. A sufficiency of evidence can make the other party settle without an expensive court case.
Book keeping
If you simply hand a pile of receipts, emails and bank statements to your accountant or auditor and hope they can work it all out you are going to get a bigger bill than if every transaction input and output was properly itemised and catalogued. I'm not a Chartered Accountant so am not permitted to submit your accounts to HMRC. I can, however, save you money by reducing the amount of grunt work your highly paid accountant has to do.
Cashflow
Companies have gone broke by suddenly becoming successful. I can help with the planning, costing and monitoring of the incoming and outgoing flows of cash as projects progress. One obvious way to alleviate the problem is to arrange in your initial contract for stage payments. Even the biggest companies — I'm thinking of Marks and Spencers and their subcontractor, Ocado — can get into a dispute if the wording is not clear.
Show me the money!
Assuming your company delivers the goods how can you reduce the risk of not getting paid?
1. Check out the company in as many ways as possible before you agree to deal with them. 2. Ask for a deposit to commence the work (this has the advantage of being able to check who is actually going to pay). 3. If possible set out in the contract that you will require stage payments. 4. Agree what will trigger such payments. 5. State clearly your payment terms. 6. Some companies demand payment to release the final goods. 7. Make sure you get a signature/confirmation for all goods/services as they are delivered. 8. Define what constitutes matters beyond your control. 9. Advise client of any problems caused by them as they occur.
Dispute resolution
Assuming you have diligently carried out all the above, presented the facts and proof that you have fulfilled the contract, ask for a detailed explanation for non-payment by return. Respond to, and refute, any allegations of non-fulfilment of contract and demand a detailed response. If appropriate offer to rectify any perceived defect in return for an agreement to then make full payment. How you move forward then depends on progress so far. Provided you have proper records and evidence — and assuming you have fulfilled the contract — a decent letter from a lawyer may well resolve the matter at this point. This is why planning for a possible dispute right at the start of a contract pays dividends. Litigation is expensive and everyone is aware of that fact. Hold your nerve. Some companies are well practised at going down to the wire.
Hub everything
I can keep track of everything or you can decide to delegate certain functions to me. Either way you have to be kept in the loop.
I run my own server so I can monitor and control your website and emails as well as handling phone communications.
Additionally I can provide secure online data and record keeping that you can access to upload or download files. These can be used when such an attachment would be too large for an email or in order to provide you with real-time reporting so that wherever you are you always know what is going on.
Because I control these services I can, for instance, provide your customers, or potential customers, with direct web messaging that does not involve tiresome logging into third party coms systems such as Google or Dropbox. Such quick and easy data transfers and communications are not only private but make your customers feel they, too, are in the loop and are receiving individual attention at a human level.
If you already have a company website that you are happy with a simple link could be added to extend it so that you maintain all your existing website facility while adding functionality that, to the viewer, appears as merely an additional group of pages.
Companies such as Google and Meta and many others use Artificial Intelligence to trawl through your private data to sell on. You have no idea who then has you data, how it's being used, or if it is finding its way to your competitiors.
Whether a conferencing service, group data linking service or video app you can't be sure how much of your sensitive commercial and private data is being harvested. There will be times when you choose to go public and use Google or Youtube to get your message out. However, when you use my system your data is always secure so you are in control of how much you wish to make public.
