Issue #62 - More money! No problem? 💸
Share your money-making ideas | How to choose a business bank account | What are blend & extend energy contracts? | A one-woman sustainable beauty & skincare business | Threads | Tunes | Words | More
🦾 GO
Are you out of money-saving ideas? 🤷♂️
Welcome to Issue #62 of The Backbone - the fortnightly newsletter from Bionic.
Inflation and interest rates are high right now, which is making life more difficult for most of us. As a business owner, you’ll be getting hit from both sides as you try to keep a household and business afloat.
A recent study from Money.co.uk found that 31% of workers have a side hustle and 42% of workers are considering starting a side job. But as a business owner, it’s unlikely that you’ll have the time or energy to take on more work.
And when times are tough, the focus is often on ways to cut costs, but there are only so many times you can turn down the thermostat and switch utility suppliers.
That’s why we’re putting together a list of ways you can potentially make more money at your business. So far we’ve come up with the following (which we’ll be sharing in a blog next week)…
Menu makeovers
Upselling and cross-selling
Customer loyalty schemes
Expanding reach online
Packaging services as products
…and we’d love to hear if you’ve got any ways of making (or saving) more money at your business. If you have, click the button below to let us know and we’ll share it with our Bionic business community.
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🗞 READ
How to choose and set up a business bank account 🏦
Having the right type of bank account is essential for all business owners (regardless of whether or not you’re considered a politically exposed person). But with so many options, picking the best bank account that suits your business can be quite a challenge.
Here’s how to choose the correct account for your company, and some of the best business bank accounts in the UK.
What are blend and extend energy contracts? 💡
Issue #60 saw us touch upon blend and extend energy contracts. If you signed up for a business energy contract when prices peaked last year, you may have been offered one to immediately lower your rates. But before you agree to blend and extend your contract, you need to work out whether it’s the best option for your business.
Here’s all you need to know about blend and extend energy contracts, along with a couple of different scenarios to help you do the maths.
🗣 SHOUTOUT
#BionicBusinessStory - Wild and Pure 🌿
Bionic spoke to Elaine Roberts, who runs a one-woman sustainable beauty and skincare business. She has created some great reusable, recyclable products. We discovered what makes her tick.
Bionic: What is the best product you sell?
Elaine Roberts: My all-natural first aid kits. After covid and spending all that time outside I did a first aid course so it all tied in together, I started thinking about what I could make out of things around me to heal, I started creating salves, and then I decided to put them all together and make a natural first aid kit.
B: Was there anything about becoming a business owner that surprised you?
ER: I think promotion is a bit harder than I thought, with social media you have to be so regular and consistent and put a lot of time in.
B: Is the cost-of-living crisis affecting your business?
ER: No, I don’t think it is at the moment because we’re not talking about huge money, and I’m trying a lot of different things. For example, if you’ve purchased a first aid kit you can come to one of my foraging courses for free. I’m aiming to create something community-based and make it more about the knowledge side of things.
B: Is the community aspect of running a business important to you?
ER: Yes, I have a Facebook and WhatsApp group. These groups are about sharing advice and all the information I share is relevant to the business, so it covers things like natural healing, the most effective types of weeds, foraging and what’s in season. My website is sort of natural living. It encompasses the same thing really.
Click on the all-natural first-aid kit below to read more of Elaine’s small business story 👇
🤳 SOCIAL
Elon Musk had Twitter users in a tiz last week when the platform seemed to break down due to newly-introduced rate limits. Never one to miss an opportunity, Meta launched a rival app called Threads.
Linked to Instagram, posts on Threads can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length.
If you fancy having a go at this new platform, use your Instagram account to log in. Your Instagram username and verification will carry over, as will your followers, and you can customise your profile specifically for Threads. There’s no desktop version, but there is a QR code at threads.net. Otherwise, you can download it for iOS or Android from your app store.
Once you’ve done that, give us a follow at @bionicbusiness.
📊 BUSINESS
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 🦾
Rain or shine, Bionic always offers a 5 Star service 🌦
🎧 LISTEN
Playlist 🎶
This week’s playlist sits nicely next to the Covers playlist we brought you in Issue #60. As the name suggests, Samples and Such is a playlist that takes a song and then sits it next to the song it samples - so we’ve got Bootylicious/Edge of Seventeen, Freak Like Me/Are ‘Friends’ Electric, Rhymin & Stealin/When the Levee Breaks, and loads more. But our favourite has to be finding out Amerie’s 1 Thing samples Oh, Calcutta! by The Meters. Put this on and get yourself lost in a music rabbit hole.
Podcast 🎙
FT News Briefing isn’t as stuffy as it sounds and, unlike the newspaper, isn’t behind a paywall. Out every weekday morning, it gives a rundown of the most important global business stories you need to know for the coming day, from the newsroom of the Financial Times. And it really isn’t as stuffy as it sounds, trust us.
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🚫 STOP
Thanks for making it to the end of another Bionic small business bulletin 🤝🏻
Please leave a comment and let us know if there’s anything else we should be featuring.
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