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My Week – Fantastic London Summer

28th Jul 2016
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I think the best place to be in summer is London. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not in the social scene of this fantastic city. I just love being in London during the summer. It is at its best. I do not understand, why people do not staycation in London.

Although my daily cycling commute to the office is getting riskier, in the London summer it is still the best. I would not even dream of traveling any other way. It takes me back to my childhood days in sunny Malawi. I used to love to cycle as a fat child.

Why would anyone want to drive in summer? I see a fair number of summer cyclists. This is good. I think more people need to get out of their metal cage and start pedaling.

Moving on to practice related matters, my week, once again, just flew. Next week it will be August. The 8th month of 2016 folks! Hey! Why does the time go so damn fast!

Payroll and AE

I spent some of my time on Bright Pay (BP). As I mentioned before, my reason for the move to BP from Moneysoft (MS) was because of AE. For us on PAYE BP does not match the efficiency of MS. They are so bang on with PAYE. It requires less time to process payroll and email payslips from MS.

I did exchange feedback emails with BP. On some of the key aspects that I would like, one of these being able to email everything I can extract from BP to be emailed from BP, that will not come.

I will stick with BP because of AE. Otherwise on PAYE BP would not be my first choice. Credit to BP for listening and responding to my emails.

Where are we?

Since M left and Q joined, I do not know where I am with my practice. By this I mean I have some idea of my fee level, client level, and expenses, but I do not have an exact knowledge. In other words, I am not in control of my ship. Q, L and I have been involved with deadlines and meeting client needs. It has been an incredibly busy time for us.

We have made significant inroads with our workload. We are not entirely out of the woods yet. We have reached a stage now where I can move to practice development. Though at this juncture, it will not be a full-time role. I will still have some involvement in the day to day, but I will have some time for practice development.

My starting point, on practice development, will be taking stock as regards to where the practice is at this stage, the viability of the practice and the direction I want to take the practice from here. It will NOT be going straight in expansion mode. That would be a waste of money. Taking stock and having a clear vision where we want to be is vital. From here development plans will follow.

I can see at least the first two to three weeks of August in taking stock and developing a clear vision of next steps. Following this taking action.

Doom and Gloom

I have read the doom and gloom perspectives for small practices. Particularly, for those practices which are mainly doing compliance work. I DON’T buy into all this. Yes, it is hard, and it will get increasingly worse. Having said that, for the practice who has a clear vision, great marketing, and highly efficient systems there is room for growth. I am positive, and I am looking forward to further growth!

Replies (6)

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
30th Jul 2016 19:01

Interesting FT. I do enjoy my visits to London but would imagine it would not be that pleasant if very hot as very crowded at best of times add heat into that and it would not be my choice.

I have managed to grab a weeks holiday up Northumberland this week and it's been grand.

Managed 2 full days on beach with paddle boards out and 2 fishing trips which I do enjoy.

Check emails on morning and night and no dramas really all week.

I agree with you around the end of the small practitioners, I still think there is as many opportunities as the is problems ahead and with good systems we should increase work over next few years.

From the amount of small practices that are coming up for sale though it would indicate that many practioners that are 60+ don't really fancy MTD.

I have just had my best ever month for billing and I was on holiday for a week of it so happy days.

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Danny Kent
By Viciuno
31st Jul 2016 19:39

I have only been to London a couple of times and I have to admit it certainly would not be my first choice for a holiday (as a matter of fact would most likely be at the bottom of the list!). About the only thing that it has going for it is its transportation.

My main reason for not going though is that breathing there is like breathing with a cloth over your face - the air is genuinely dirty.

With your cycling FT a holiday to the north of Scotland or to one of the islands of the west coast sounds like it would be right up your street - roads a quiet depending on where you are and the views are amazing. If it is a city that you really want to go to Edinburgh is fantastic.

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By mrme89
01st Aug 2016 10:45

I went to London a couple of years ago.

One of the things that stood out for me were how rude people were. People walking through you in a busy street is commonplace, and manners are completely missing.

It’s ok for a trip. But I couldn’t do much more than a couple of days.

London would not get in my top 5 destinations to visit in the UK.

I've just come back from Dolgellau in North Wales which was amazing. We also took a trip to Barmouth which had a great seaside - you also got some good views from the bridge.

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FT
By FirstTab
01st Aug 2016 21:18

Hello Gennzy, Viciuno and mrme, thanks for your response.

Glennzy - great that you had the best billing month. I hope it continues. Good that you are positive about the future.

Since we are so cloud based, like so many here, MTD will be welcomed. I would be surprised if we lose clients.

All - Here are most of my reasons for loving London:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/36-reasons-to-love-london?utm_term=.l...

In summer those reasons become more attractive. No 1 in the list is my number 1 as well. I think I am in the 9.8% category.

Viciuno - Agree Edinburgh is well worth a visit. My niece is married to a Scott and they live in Edinburgh I go there once a year. Cycling holiday sounds great. I will look into this.

mrme - I loved Cardiff. I spent 4 years there. My heart will always be in London. Londoners can be rude since we went to get to our destination yesterday and everyone is in the way!

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Replying to FirstTab:
By mrme89
02nd Aug 2016 12:10

FirstTab wrote:

Hello Gennzy, Viciuno and mrme, thanks for your response.

Glennzy - great that you had the best billing month. I hope it continues. Good that you are positive about the future.

Since we are so cloud based, like so many here, MTD will be welcomed. I would be surprised if we lose clients.

All - Here are most of my reasons for loving London:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/36-reasons-to-love-london?utm_term=.l...

In summer those reasons become more attractive. No 1 in the list is my number 1 as well. I think I am in the 9.8% category.

Viciuno - Agree Edinburgh is well worth a visit. My niece is married to a Scott and they live in Edinburgh I go there once a year. Cycling holiday sounds great. I will look into this.

mrme - I loved Cardiff. I spent 4 years there. My heart will always be in London. Londoners can be rude since we went to get to our destination yesterday and everyone is in the way!

You should try North Wales, FT. You would love the cycling. I am not a cyclist, but we rented a bike for a day. It was hard work, but it was worth it for the scenery.

We stayed at The Royal Ship Inn. Locals told us that it had recently undergone a refurb costing around £1.5m - which explained the drink prices!

Thanks (1)
Replying to mrme89:
FT
By FirstTab
02nd Aug 2016 21:33

Thanks mrme The Royal Ship Inn, looks good. I need to check out North Wales.

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