Why would you spend money on…?

As a freelancer, business owner, self-employed person or however you refer to yourself, there are lots of people who want to sell you their services. What do all of these professionals do, how can they help you and, crucially, are they worth the money?

In this week’s blog post I profile 10 different professionals (including myself!) to get you the information you need about the services you can access.

How can you save people money?

• By ensuring they are claiming all allowable business expenses.
• By ensuring they meet all HMRC and Companies House deadlines, thus not being charged fines and penalties.
• By looking at the whole picture (Corporation tax, VAT, self-assessment, PAYE) and having their businesses set up in the most tax efficient way… each situation is unique.
• By looking at family tax (if applicable and it is to most of my clients), you can read more about that here (2) My 5 family friendly tax tips | LinkedIn
• By ensuring their accounts and tax returns are in the correct format and tax is correctly calculated each year hence avoiding additional tax charges at a later date if HMRC investigate them.
• By providing tax investigation insurance for £100 per year, which insures against my time if HMRC were to investigate them… a HMRC investigation can take time and if I have to send a bill to a client at my hourly rate, this is going to become costly.
• By recommending the free Mettle banking app by NatWest which gets you free FreeAgent accounting software.

How can you help people to make money?

• Through my Finance Mentoring service which is a quarterly meeting with me to discuss any aspect of business finance and keep them on track with goals.
• By teaching them Profit First cash management and keeping them accountable.
• By getting them set up on accounting software, organised and ready to make more money.
• By promoting them on social media and in my newsletter.
• By recommending their services to my network at events and in the OEC Facebook group which I co-run with Helen

My cheapest service is a one off 1:1 consultation which includes a 30 minute Zoom call and follow up email. Currently £79 one off fee.

My most expensive service is an accountancy service for a Limited Company who need accounts filing with Companies House, Corporation Tax filing, Self-Assessment filing, monthly PAYE processing and quarterly VAT returns, monthly bookkeeping plus my finance mentoring service. £4,800 in total.

Paying for professional help when you’re a small business owner can feel very scary indeed. As an Ads Strategist, I understand that it can feel like a huge risk, and often, a not insignificant financial investment. But that’s the key phrase – “investment”. With a great strategy in place, good targeting, creative copy, and scroll-stopping visuals, ads can be well executed to get incredible returns.

Working with an expert in a field that you are NOT an expert in can have a huge and measurable impact on your business’s success, growth, and income. This is why paying for a professional from the get-go can save you time, stress, and money.

This is especially true for Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, where it is very easy to spend a lot without getting anything back … IF you don’t know what you are doing.

When working with a professional Ads Strategist (like me!), you can make your money back and more through ad sales or lead generation conversions. As a quick example, I have a client who spends £400 on their monthly ad spend. They made over £35k in sales from the leads generated from that £400 last month. Pretty great, right?

As with outsourcing any element of your business, the key is making sure you are comfortable with the person you are using. Ask questions, read their previous client reviews – feel confident in your decision.

I offer monthly ads management (from £500 per month depending on ad spend), ad audits (for businesses running their own ads), and Power Hours for 1-2-1 training (pricing from £99).

How can you save people money?

I can help businesses save money by reducing the admin load of the appointed accountant for year end accounts. I also help stay on top of financial administration and bill paying to avoid late fines or disruption to essential services. 

How can you help people to make money?

I can help businesses make money by organising/tracking income and spending to identify the most profitable avenues to pursue. If you believe time is money I save business owners time by organising their financial stories so they can tell where they’re up to and make informed decisions. 

What are your cheapest and most expensive services?

At the moment I don’t have set products so don’t have a cheapest/dearest product. I charge a set hourly fee of £15 to all clients. Moving forwards I aim to charge package prices for self-assessments….. watch this space! 

How do you save people money?

I provide life coaching to small business owners to help them to get clear on what it is that they want and grow their confidence so they can go out and get it. Clarity is absolutely a money saver, because when you are clear on where you are headed you stop spending money on things that don’t fit into that vision. Are you doing all of the courses, paying for all of the things, throwing money at your business without having a clearly defined plan? Let’s get you calm, clear and confident and then you will know where you money should be spent.

How do you help people to make money?

We all have so many plans as business owners, but figuring out how to put them into practice can feel overwhelming. I help you to cut through the procrastination and imposter syndrome so you can get your plans into action and grow your business. You know what you need to do to increase your income – you just need my support and some accountability in order to get your show on the road!

What is your cheapest service?

I charge £75 for a one-off one hour Headspace coaching session, which is perfect for untangling your thoughts on a particular challenge or issue.

What is your most expensive service?

My 1:1 coaching package is currently £600 for 6 1-hour sessions, usually held every two weeks. This price is increasing in 2022 though, so to take advantage of my current pricing please get in touch before the end of this year!

How can you save people money?

By offering design and print services all in one place, I can save clients time and money so they don’t have to shop around. As a freelance designer, I don’t have the same expense and overheads as a larger design agency and this is reflected in what I charge. Typically this means as a freelancer I can charge much less for the same project.

How can you help people to make money?

I can help you make money, by getting your branding and marketing consistent and noticed. I also save you time by doing the design work for you rather than you spending hours in Canva etc. Therefore freeing you up to focus on your business and doing what you do best.

My best value product would be my business startup package 1. For £199 you get a bespoke logo tailored to your business, and a choice of either branded business stationary or a branding Guidelines document showing how your logo can be used, font and colours used so you can keep you brand consistent.

My most expensive product would be my business startup package 4. All the benefits of Package 1 plus a bespoke, branded, fully responsive E-Commerce website, designed and built. With SEO, connected to Google and domain name registration for 1 year. Package 4 costs £899, a really good value product.

How can you save people money?

I can save people money by making their people processes better – whether that’s by reducing the amount of time they spend on dealing with employee data or by getting the right structures in place to make decisions fairly, sensibly and legally, thereby avoiding an expensive tribunal claim.

How can you help people to make money?

I can help people make money by finding them the right team members to grow their business – the right approaches to advertising, selection and induction for your company will improve engagement and build trust from day 1, meaning that you can focus on your why with a great team behind you.

What is your cheapest service?

My ad hoc hourly rate for one-off/intermittent advice – considering that a junior employment solicitor will typically charge around £225 plus VAT per hour, my 19+ years’ HR experience is a bargain at £90 plus VAT!

What is your most expensive service?

My retained support, which can cost up to £700 plus VAT per month depending on the size of your team; however you get dedicated support AND you can sleep soundly knowing all your people issues are being dealt with.

How can you save people money?

We can save money where we review what software and services you are paying for and where there is overlap we can save these costs by having one solution that does the job. We also allow you to focus on billable work and therefore making money as you are not trying to google and work out what the IT issue is.

How can you help people to make money?

Rolling on from the above point, we can free up your time to focus on billable client work. We can also introduce smarter systems and automation where suitable which streamlines both business process and makes the business scalable, so you can grow.

What is your cheapest service?

Backup of your M365 or Google workspace for just £10 per user per month. This also includes any restores you need to complete.

What is your most expensive service?

We can offer fixed price IT that includes all services from below. Prices starting at £97+ per user per month

• IT Support, (from £25+)
• M365 / Google Workspace licence, (From £12+)
• Security software to protect your PC from cyber threats, (From £5+)
• Backup of your data locally, Backup of your M365 / Google data (from £10+)
• Virtual PC (W365) your PC in the cloud (from £40+)
• Password safe vault to store all your password safely and securely

How can you save people money?

I help people save money by saving time. Your time is your money – why spend hours searching for images on stock sites, trying to find the perfect image that matches your brand and what you are trying to discuss? With a personal brand shoot you have a bank of on-brand images that you can pull from daily. All the images have been created with a purpose to fit into your content.

How can you help people to make money?

By creating images that will attract your ideal client. Having the right images that are on-brand, that tell your story, will attract the right clients and help them to “know, like and trust” you, and ultimately buy from you.

What are your cheapest and most expensive services?

I have two packages. The half day personal branding shoot is my most popular package, this is £595 for a 3-4 hour shoot in 3 locations. 3-4 outfit changes and you get 75+ images. The one up from that is a full day 6 hour shoot for £795, up to 5 locations and 150+ images. The cheapest shoot I would do separate from those packages would be an hour’s shoot, a mini portrait session, and I do these as offers now and again so keep an eye on my social media!

How can you save people money?

I know the tips and tricks and tools for making your social media content effective, and because it is what I do all day long, I can get it done much faster than you can. Your time is worth money, do you really want to be spending it swearing at Facebook and grappling with your scheduler? I can work with you to free up your time and headspace.

How can you help people to make money?

Good social media content and an effective engagement strategy will grow your reach on social media, attracting new clients and ultimately new business. I can help you to stay visible, get in front of your ideal client and provide you with the knowledge of how to make the most of those online relationships.

What is your cheapest service?

I am launching my Instagram power-hour later on this autumn, which will be £75. Watch this space!

What is your most expensive service?

Regular social media support is a minimum of £300 per month, and we build a package that is bespoke to you and your needs.

How can we save people money?

The team of VAs at Clear Day can save you money by freeing up your time. Every hour you spend doing admin is an hour you could have spent doing what you do best – servicing your clients and growing your business! We can also advise on time-saving systems to make your admin more streamlined, meaning that you will pay for less of our time as well as freeing up your own. Delegate to elevate – don’t let the admin drag you down.

How can we help people to make money?

We can support you in your business, helping you to get projects off the ground, make progress on your plans and get stuff done. All of the business growth that you know will increase your income, we can help you to make that happen.

What is your cheapest service?

We provide a 4 hour Get Organised! Get Clear! session for £160, which is an audit of your current systems & processes and our recommendations for efficiency and streamlining.

What is your most expensive service?

Regular VA/PA support costs upwards of £300 per month, working out at £30 per hour.

Helen Calvert
September 2021