Issue #32 - Weighing up the costs ⚖
"5 businesses, 1 question" is back! | National Doughnut Week | How to prepare and conduct an interview | Top tips to spring clean your SME | Tunes | Podcasts | More
🦾 G O
It’s getting expensive out there 💸
Welcome to Issue #32 of The Backbone - the fortnightly newsletter from Bionic.
The reality of soaring energy bills and rising inflation is starting to hit home now. Everything is becoming really expensive.
If you’re a business owner, you’ll be getting hit twice by the cost increases as both your household and business bills will be on the rise.
And the government doesn’t really seem to be doing anything to help.
A cut to VAT, for instance, would instantly reduce the cost of goods and services for consumers without impacting the bottom line for businesses. But the government has said no.
There’s still no help with business energy bills and the energy price cap could soar by another £900 at the next review.
It’s difficult to know what to do other than look at where we can cut costs and save money in all areas of our home and business life. And even that might not be enough come next winter.
Still, it could be worse. It could be raining.
📨 S U B S C R I B E
Subscribe to The Backbone to get each fortnightly edition into your inbox at 7 am every other Friday. Perfect for a quick read at breakfast or on the commute.
🗣 S H O U T O U T
#BionicBusinessStory - 5 businesses, 1 question 🤔
We love hearing all about how small business owners got to where they are? The stories of how they’ve built their business, the things that keep them awake at night, their biggest achievements, and the things that keep them coming back for more. We asked five business owners one simple question, and here’s how they answered…
Bionic: What has been your biggest achievement as a business owner?
🎨 “My biggest achievement so far is a personal one. It’s a painting of my sister, but I was trying out a brand-new pop art style. It turned out amazingly well and it's my new favourite way to paint. It’s also brought more customers my way, ones who prefer this specific style.” Siana Thomas - Shimbodoesart
🐕 “We’ve always retained the quality of our products and we continue improving, giving value to the customer, so that's been our biggest achievement as a business." Lilly Shahravesh - LISH
🍫 “Still trading after 19 years and loving it is our biggest achievement! Making money is great but making chocolate is way more fun!” Flo Broughton - Choc on Choc
🐶 "Definitely the number of events we put on each year and how we've grown as a business, but supporting friends and family and their work/life balance is important to us too." Marcus Ackford - The Pup Up Cafe
👒 “My biggest achievement is probably the longevity of the business. I used to fluctuate between jobs and find something new when I got bored but owning this shop has been great. I have a lot more creative license.” Lucy Bradbury - Divine Trash Clothing
Click on the open shop sign below to check out more Bionic small business stories 👇
📩 J O I N
Get involved with our business community 🔊
Share your thoughts and tips to give other busy business owners a helping hand. Or ask a question to see if anyone can help you out.
🤳 S O C I A L
It’s National Doughnut Week, which means all sorts of businesses across the country - including bakers, coffee shops, and offices - will be selling delicious doughnuts to raise funds for The Children’s Trust.
So, obviously, we’re tackling the big issues of the day in our latest Twitter poll, which asks…what’s your favourite doughnut? Vote now and let us know 👇
🗞 R E A D
How to prepare and conduct an interview
An interview can be a nerve-wracking experience for those on both sides of the table – hopeful candidates are desperate to impress, while the interviewer wants to make sure they get the right candidate for the job.
Preparation is key. Let’s take a close look at how you can best do this and help make sure you find the right person for the job, every time.
Top tips to spring clean your SME
Spring is the perfect time to get your business in tip-top shape. Whether you run a café, own a takeaway, or fix cars in your workshop, having a good declutter will ensure your business runs as smoothly as possible.
Last year we gave you six tips to spring clean your business that involved things like looking at your social media presence, trying new offers, and making new connections with your customers. We were in the middle of lockdown back then but as we’re fully into spring 2022, things are starting to look a little more like those pre-pandemic days.
That’s why we’ve taken another look at spring cleaning your small business, but this time it’s all about literally tidying things up and preparing for the year ahead.
📊 B U S I N E S S
Get your business costs sorted 💷
Bionic - the business price comparison experts - compare a range of business essentials to help you save time, money, and hassle.
Our tech-enabled team will answer all your questions in simple terms, and help you find the best deal on business energy, insurance, phone, broadband, or finance. No jargon. No-fuss. #BeABionicBusiness 🦾
Check out more ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Trustpilot reviews
🎧 L I S T E N
Playlist
Spring is well and truly in the air, which means we’ve been listening to The Lark Ascending loads over the last few weeks. And that led us nicely onto this classical playlist that rounds up the most popular songs currently on rotation at Classic FM. There’s more from Vaughan Williams, alongside Mozart, Holst, Elgar, John Williams, Hans Zimmer and loads more.
Podcast
A strange letter appears on a city councillor’s desk in Birmingham, England, laying out an elaborate plot by Islamic extremists to infiltrate the city’s schools. The plot has a code name: Operation Trojan Horse. To Hamza Syed, who is watching the scandal unfold in his city, the whole thing seemed…off. Syed teamed up with, journalist, Brian Reed, to try and work out who wrote the letter and why. And, as you might have guessed, not all is as it seems.
👩🤝👩🏾 S H A R E
If you love The Backbone (or even if you just quite like it) share it with someone who has equally great taste in email newsletters.
🏡 H O U S E K E E P I N G
Check your folders 📁
If The Backbone isn’t landing in your inbox every other Friday, please mark this address as ‘not spam.’ If it isn’t in your spam folder, it may have been moved to another folder, like ‘Promotions’ or ‘Social’.
🚫 S T O P
Thanks for making it to the end of another Bionic bulletin 🤝🏻
Please leave a comment and let us know if there’s anything else we should be featuring.
And don’t forget to send this link to all your friends and get them to subscribe ✌🏻