Issue #83 - Your Business Matters 💪
Small businesses can save Britain | How to prepare and conduct an interview | Do company vehicles need different insurance? | Join our community | Tunes | Words | More
🦾 GO
Small businesses are key to the economy 📈
Welcome to Issue #83 of The Backbone - the fortnightly newsletter from Bionic.
Running a small business can be tough. It can feel lonely. It can feel that there’s too much to keep on top of. It can also be more rewarding than any other type of work.
We’re not talking about record turnovers, hitting EBITDA or any of that financial nonsense (no one goes into business for the spreadsheets - except maybe accountants).
We’re talking about those little things that make you remember why you love what you do - regular customers coming through the door, kind words from new customers, closing up and knowing you’ve helped make someone’s day even a little bit better.
But don’t underestimate your importance in the bigger picture either. As a small business owner, you’re part of a 5.6 million-strong club that makes up 60% of the employment in the UK private sector.
And if you do want to talk turnover, small businesses account for around half of turnover in the UK private sector.
In short, the country couldn't function without you and the millions of other business owners out there.
The next time you’re having a bad day, maybe those regulars haven’t been in or you’ve had to deal with an awkward customer (we had some great advice on how to do this in our small business snapshot), remember that your business matters - not just to you, your staff, and your customers, but to the whole country.
Now, how about a terrible joke…
🗯 COMMUNITY
Join our community of small business superheroes
Small business owners are the superheroes of the high street. But small business owners rarely get their voices heard. Now there’s a place where they can chat, share advice and help each other through the lows and highs of running a business. To get involved, scan or click the QR code above or click the button below to sign up.
🗞 READ
How to prepare and conduct an interview 📝
Back in Issue #81 we explained how to advertise a job at your business. Next up is the interview, which 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.
As the interviewer, you need to prepare a question set that will put you in no doubt about who the best candidates are. Let’s look at how you can best do this and help make sure you find the right person for the job, every time.
Do company vehicles need different insurance? 🚜
As a small business owner, you might have a few cars or vans shipping out deliveries or your sales team on hand to secure a deal. But what happens if an employee is caught driving without valid insurance? And what does this mean for your business?
In this Bionic guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about company vehicles and who needs to make sure that the vehicle is insured.
🗣 SHOUTOUT
#SmallBusinessStory - The Old Justice Pub ⚖
It’s May, which means the weather is warming up and beer gardens across the country will soon be heaving with happy customers. That’s why we’ve chosen Britain’s pubs to be this month’s small business superheroes.
First up are Will and Paul who run The Old Justice Pub in Bermondsey. We found out how they initially saved the historic pub from closure and how they’re battling the cost-of-living crisis.
Bionic: How did you come to own The Old Justice Pub?
Will: It was a pub previously and it had been there for a long, long time, since the 20’s, I believe. That pub was absolutely loved by the local community, it was a really central spot for them but then it shut for six or seven years before we opened it again. There was a big community campaign to save it. It went back and forth, but with help from the council, they eventually managed to stop the ground floor being turned into flats. The floors above are all flats now, and the developer had already ripped out the bar, so we had to put that back in.
B: What is special about your pub?
Paul: One of the main things we thought about was how to build a pub in a place like Bermondsey, which is very much still a traditional London area. It still has those community roots, so keeping that was super important to us. But then we're also in our 30s, so it was also about bringing the dynamics of younger and older customers together.
B: What’s your favourite thing about running your pub?
Paul: Everyone has their own space in there and it's quite rewarding to see. After a year of opening, everybody notices it now and loves the fact that it's both a young and older crowd. We really have a blend of all these people and it's so satisfying.
B: What has been your biggest achievement so far?
Will: So many people have spent their whole lives in Bermondsey and remember this pub. We chat to a lot of customers who remember being five years old and having their grandmother's birthday party in this pub, 50 years ago. So, to have them walk in and be like, ‘oh, it feels the same’ is great. We respect the history and seeing people come in and show real joy that they've got their local pub back is a big achievement.
B: What has been your biggest struggle?
Paul: The current state of affairs is a big one. Pubs are struggling at the minute, but when we hear about them struggling in the news, it's not really pubs like ours. It's chains, and actually they're doing fine. Because we're independent, we have no support network. It’s just Will and myself! We’ve put together our years of experience and the connections we’ve made ourselves, but it’s just the two of us and we don't come from business backgrounds, we just kind of got lucky and managed to kind of make this thing work.
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📊 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.
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🔊 LISTEN
Playlist 🎵
You know when you see a supermarket trolley in an unnatural habitat (not a supermarket car park) and you’ve no clue how it got there? That’s a feral trolley. It’s a worldwide phenomenon that has its own Instagram account and Spotify playlist. Both of which may or may not have something to do with our Senior Content Manager, Les Roberts…
Podcast 🎙
We’ve been sharing podcasts since Issue #1. But not just your usual business podcasts, a wide range of different genres - because sometimes you need to talk something other than shop. Amazingly, we’ve never delved into the world of true crime podcasts. Until now. Camilla, Senior CRM Manager and true crime podcast fan, suggested a stone-cold classic in Serial. Honestly, no idea how we’ve not thought of it before now (make sure you start at series one).
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🏡 HOUSEKEEPING
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🚫 STOP
Thanks for making it to the end of another Bionic small business bulletin 🤝🏻
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