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HOMEWORKING NEWS
More teleworking/homeworking job
sites added to the
Job Search Page.
Particularly smarterwork.com
which is a new freelancer job
bidding service soon to be launched.
PHONE'Y WAR9
CallNet 0800 Returns (But For How
Long?)
Those of
you who have been receiving this
newsletter for some time will
remember our weekly updates of 'CallNet
0800' the 'free-call' ISP. Well,
they no say they have cleared all
those who registered on-line or by
telephone. To sign up now, you will
be charged £20 (refunded in phone
credits) but only if you use BT,
LocalTel or Kingston Communications.
(Ed: If
this company goes off line again it
must call into question what the
government is doing about telecoms
and hopeful start ups. I registered
by telephone and on-line way back,
they have not contacted me -
something to do with entering £0
spending on the 'International
Calls' in their registration
questionnaire! It is obvious that
they 'cherry pick' their
subscribers: is that legal?)
Callnet0800
INTERNET-LITE
Web
Sites Attacked - New Industries
Emerge
Yahoo!,
Amazon, eBay, CNN, Buy.com, E*Trade,
Datek, ZDNet and Excite are the
known websites attacked. Yahoo! was
offline for 3 hours. The attack,
called 'smurfing' was sent from a
number of teenagers (the little
darlings) to the mentioned sites by
continuous streams of messages from
hundreds of PC's: this causes a
total freeze.
The
shares of net security product
companies soared (true). Insurance
companies are being inundated with
compliance officers of large
companies trying to get the latest
form of Internet insurance to guard
against possible attack. Take that
one step forward: will we all have
to get Internet insurance before
using the net?: and it will
certainly soon be a part of
Internet legislation to have
insurance if you have a web site,
and as I reported a few weeks back,
a major bank will not accept ANY
liability if it's cards are used by
you on the net and subsequently end
up being used for net fraud.
With the
millennium bug (pussy cat) out of
the way it was only a matter of
time before the large corporations
found a cause to champion 'Hack
Attack' caused by changing the two
digit year display to four digits,
you've been warned! The name of the
attacks 'DOS' denial of service
(cute in a sort of glad it wasn't me
sort of way).
P.S.
Talk about a door salesman selling
you a fire alarm when your next door
neighbour's house has just burnt
down: a virus company rang me Monday
morning: b******* opportunists!
BUSINESS BANKING
What Do
You Think?
- by
The Home Business Alliance (HBA)
-
Working From Home,
February
2000 The HBA have been canvassing
their members about the state of
business banking. - Access to
finance from banks is difficult for
small firms, next to impossible for
start-ups. - The Government's Loan
Guarantee Scheme is very rarely
mentioned when financial packages
are drawn up. - Business advisers in
banks aren't qualified to give
business advice outside that of the
bank's own products and services. -
Bank restructuring has made it
nearly impossible for small firms
to speak with a decision maker when
applying for finance. - While some
banks produce some excellent written
material for small businesses,
there is a lack of knowledge among
banking staff and management of
broader business issues. The
article also criticises the four-day
delay for cheque/money transfers in
an age when electronic transfers can
be done overnight. You can contact
the Home Business Alliance on: Tel:
01945 463 303 Fax: 01945 474 555
Source:
Cobwebinfo
DATA
PROTECTION ACT
Is
Your Data Protected? The
provisions of the Data Protection
Act 1998 will be coming into effect
on 1st March 2000. Organisations
whose registrations with the Data
Protection office are renewed after
that date must re-register annually
(instead of every three years as at
present). Those which re-register
before 1st March will have three
years before starting annual
registration. If you want to know
more about the workings of the Data
Protection Act 1998, you'll find
lots of downloadable information on
the
Data Protection Registrar's
website.
UK
Law Site
A
law
site provides law
advice on many subjects business
and personal. The site has been
around for a while and is getting a
lot more informative. Have a look
so you get a feel of what's
available. Definitely look at the
site before hiring a lawyer.
Talking Telephone Numbers
Telephone numbers change again on
April 22. The affected areas are
London, Coventry, Southampton,
Cardiff, Portsmouth and Northern
Ireland. The London number 0181 has
caused problems: wrong 0208 123
4567 / right 020 8123 4567, the '8'
is part of the local number.
Web
speeds delivery for start-ups
Web
users had a six-week head start when
it came to getting hold of a
business "starter pack" prepared
jointly by the Inland Revenue and
Customs & Excise. The "Starting a
Business" pack was available online
in late December. This week, the
tax departments finally announced
the print version was ready for
distribution. "It may have been
available online, but we didn't
launch it," said a Customs
spokesman. Source:Accountingweb
On
Line Printer
A
printing company has set up a
dedicated web for stationery,
leaflet and brochure ordering.The
name of the site 'crtl p' is quite
clever. The on line printing
business is about to explode - A
price war, Yippee!
Endure 10 Seconds for 1 Minute
SpotCast
will soon announce a partnership
with a 'major' mobile phone company
that will give the mobile user a
free minute at the beginning of
every call, if you listen to a 10
second ad while waiting to be
connected.
Football on the Internet
FreeServe are likely bidders for
English Premiership football on the
Internet. Likely to trial in
Manchester (of course) and London
(of course): Bids for £1.5 billion
only.
Just Had
to Include It As the Zen Buddhists
say, "When you're falling off a
cliff, jump."
TIP
OF THE WEEK
No Re-Mortgaging Fees Ever Again
ipromise,
a member of the Credit Suisse Group,
offer re-mortgaging free of
redemption penalties, no tie-ins to
variable rates, no arrangement fees,
no solicitor fees, surveys or
compulsory insurance. The catch -
minimum 2 year mortgage each time
you remortgage (sounds OK). 0800
358 80 81
TOPIC
Breakeven Analysis
The
Definition:
"The
level of sales (by volume or selling
price) at which sales equal costs
(no profit, but no loss either)."
This means that if your total costs
for running your business for, say,
one month was £5000 and you sold
carpets at £1000 each: you would
need to sell '5' carpets, or put
another way, 5000 worth of
carpets. (Simple? well it's not
that straightforward)
A
Scenario:
A
company called Credit to Cash is
planning to bring to market a
business software program. The
'fixed cost' of research and
development is £25,000 and the cost
of marketing, production and
distribution (known as 'variable
costs') being £8.00 per 'unit'. The
research has shown that the
market-place puts the software
retail price at £26 each.
The
Formula:
First
you find the 'contribution' figure:
this is the difference between the
variable cost (£8.00) and the
selling price (£26.00), being
£18.00. Then, find the number of
units that have to be sold to cover
the 'fixed costs' (being £25,000)
divided by £18 (the contribution)
which equals 1389 units that has to
be sold to breakeven.
Analysis:
Once you
have established the volume of sales
(1389) you need to consider the
viability of reaching this most
basic target. Remember, this figure
does not include profit, be that for
inward or outward distribution.
What you could discover is that the
order you already have for 1500
units will be profitable. You may
decide to increase or decrease your
price based on the results to make
you more competitive.
What
Profit is Achieved?:
'Contribution (£18)
times (x) expected sales (1500) less
(-) fixed costs (£25,000) equals
profit of (=) £2,000. Fixed Costs
= costs that exist if you made one
or a hundred items i.e. full rent
is paid regardless of output - Rent,
Rates, Lease, Gas, Electric, Wages
(support staff) Variable Costs =
costs that can increase or decrease
depending on the volume of units
made and sold - Materials, Direct
Wages (actual labour force),
Delivery, Post | 
