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George Osborne announcedmoremeasures last week to give Britainone of themost competitive export regimes in the world, including helpfor smaller companies.
On a trade trip to Brazil, the chancellor announced that UK Trade &Investment (UKTI) will invest£4m a year to triple the number ofadvisers available tomedium-sized companies. This came on top ofmeasures in last month’s budget, when Osborne doubled the exportfinance direct lending programme to£3bn. This scheme allows firmsto offer competitive finance to their overseas buyers, helping themwinexport contracts. In addition, interest rates on the schemewere cut.
HOW I MADE ITChr is Gorel l BarnesFounder ofAd just Your Set
Cash pledged to boost exports
Start-ups, look it’sraining free advice
AFTER almost 10 years of producing tele-vision commercials, Chris Gorell Barnessawtheneed for somenewthinking.“I realised brands would need to tell
stories digitally and online video was themostpowerful tool,”he said.The shift in advertising would require
a different kind of agency. In 2008, GorellBarnes founded Adjust Your Set, a digitalcontent provider for the likes of Marks &Spencer, Carphone Warehouse andBritishAirways.The agency, with 60 staff in Maryle-
bone, central London, specialises in pro-ducing videos for popular brands. Lastyear it reported sales of £6.25m andexpects revenuesof£9.5min2014.“I started creating compelling video
content that was not just an advertise-ment but also useful and entertaining forthe consumer,” said Gorell Barnes, whoput£250,000 into thebusiness.He took on his first client, the Royal
Opera House, in 2008, hoping to changepublic perceptions of opera. “We filmedin rehearsals and told the amazing storiesof the conductors and artists.We broughtopera to life for thedigital age.”Gorell Barnes specialises in securing
big names. “I am quite tenacious. I spenda lot of time phoning, emailing andtweeting companies so I can convincetheir chief executives ofourmerits.”M&S is among his most illustrious cli-
ents. Its print and digital campaign M&SLeading Ladies was seen by 10m peopleon Facebook alone last year. “The workwe’ve done with M&S has been game-changing in linking video and ecom-merce,” saidGorell Barnes.When the film is paused, a link to
M&S’s retail site appears. Viewers canbuy the clothes modelled by the LeadingLadies, who this year include actressEmma Thompson and singer AnnieLennox. The technology,which also yieldsvaluable consumer data, is changing thewaycompanies thinkabout advertising.“Advertising is losing much of its
power because of the search culture,”saidGorell Barnes, Adjust Your Set’s chiefexecutive. “Everybody is checking outreviews, deciding what they are going tobuybefore theyenter a store.”He believes “interruptive” advertising
— ads during primetime television — area thingof the“pre-digital age”. The com-pany’s name is a humorous throwback tothe days when exasperated viewers werewarned not to “adjust your set” to stopthem taking blunt instruments to theirTVswhen the signalwas lost.“We are seeing a seismic shift in the
industry. The customer isn’t just king,theyaremastersof theuniverse,”he said.
In 2009,Gorell Barnesworkedwith theSunday Times columnist Charles Cloverto produce The End of the Line, a docu-mentaryhighlighting thedangersofover-fishing. Waitrose sponsored it. “It wasbraveof themtobackadocumentarycriti-cising the fishing industry, which theyareabigpartof.”Then, in 2010, he co-founded the Blue
Marine Foundation to protect the oceans.“Some 71%of the planet is ocean but only2%of it is protected. The aim is to protect10%in thenext 10years.”Adjust Your Set has a vested interest in
such campaigns. “Clients need to makecontent thatmatters,”he said. “It’s not allaboutproduct orprice.”Gorell Barnes grew up in Maida Vale,
west London. His father, who died whenhe was 10, was a merchant banker. Hismother andolder sister are therapists andhis stepfather is a psychiatrist. “There’slotsof smart thinking in the family.”In 1991, while boarding at Bedales in
Hampshire, Gorell Barnes co-foundedhis
first venture, promotingparties for fellowpupils. He continued to run Capital VIPPromotionsduringhis studiesat theEuro-pean Business School at Regent’s Univer-sity in London. In 1997 he joined the adagency Rapier, with clients includingVirginAtlanticandBarclays.He switched to television advertising
in 1999, becoming head of sales for theproduction company BFCS. He found hisniche in film production and in 2001joinedTsunamiFilms toproducecommer-cials for Audi, Direct Line and AOL. Twoyears later he co-founded Method Films,amusicvideoandTVproducer.But not even Madonna could hold his
attention. “I missed the thinking behindtechnology, which was becoming veryexciting,” said Gorell Barnes, who quitand founded mobile marketing firmBrand Hand in 2006, making ringtonesandwallpapers formobiles.Thecompanypeakedbefore thesmart-
phone revolution, and he dropped it tostart Adjust Your Set. But in 2007 heinvested in Eagle Eye Solutions, a mobilephonevoucher start-up.Gorell Barnes, 39, lives in Marylebone
with his partner Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of Lastminute.com and a cross-benchpeer. “Weshare a loveofdigital andsocial change but we don’t spend toomuchtime talkingaboutwork,”hesaid.He advises aspiring entrepreneurs to
be courageous: “Take risks and don’t beafraid of failure. Trust your team andinspire them, not with what you aredoingbutwithwhyyouaredoing it.”
HattieWilliams
SAVE£2,000 ONNATIONAL INSURANCETHwrites: I employ fivepeople.When I submitmyonlinepayrollforApril, do Ineed todoanythingto register for theemploymentallowance,which isbeingintroducedthismonth?
Theemploymentallowance,whichis a savingonemployers’nationalinsurancecontributions (Nics),wasoneof themainannouncements inlastyear’sbudget andwasbrought intoencourageemployment,writesChrisLane,partneratKingstonSmithLLP. Itwas fully activatedwiththenewtaxyearandwill reduceyouremployer’sNicsbill by£2,000.Youcanclaimtheemployment
allowance if yourunabusinessorcharity. If yourbusinessbelongs to agroupof companies, onlyone in thegroupcanmake theclaim.Theannual£2,000allowance
will beoffset against theemployer’sClass 1Nics fromApril 6. Itwill beclaimedaspartof thenormalpayrollprocess through theonlineRealTime Informationsystem.TheHMRevenue&Customssystemwill allowyou tomake theclaim.Ifyouuse thirdparty software toprocessyourpayroll payments,youmayneedanadditionalmodule.Alternatively,youcan simplyusetheHMRCsystemtoclaimtheallowance.Itwill beadeduction fromthe
employer’s contributionsonly andnot thoseof employees. It is, in effect,a£2,000nil-rateband foremployers. Firmswithout anyemployees in the taxyearendedApril 5, 2015will notbeable tobenefit fromtheallowance.
PREVENT CLAIMS FORUNFAIR DISMISSALWLwrites: I amalwaysconsciousthatanyHRdecisioncanbechallengedat anemploymenttribunal.Whatare thevitallyimportant things thatwill helpmetoavoida tribunal?
Thevastmajorityof claimsatemployment tribunals are forunfairdismissal,writesPeterDone,managingdirectorofPeninsula.Soyouneed tomake sureyourdisciplinaryanddismissalproceduresarewatertight.Astatutorycodeofpracticeondisciplinaryandgrievanceprocedures setsout theminimum
that is expected fromanemployer.There is anonusonacting fairly
andreasonablywhenyouaredealingwithdisciplinarymatters.Dismissalfor the first instanceofmisconduct israrelyconsideredreasonable, unlesstheemployee’smisconductwas soserious that it amounted togrossmisconduct.For all other instances,thereneeds tobeawarning system,which lets anemployeeknowthathisorherbehaviour is unacceptableand thatyouwillmonitor themforany furtherviolations.It is vital thatemployeesknowthe
disciplinaryrules so that theycannotclaimtheywereunaware thatcertaintypesof behaviourwould land themin trouble.Although it is notgenerally
possible foremployees toclaimunfairdismissal if theyhave lessthan twoyears’ service, there areexceptions to this rule.This canhappenwhenemployeesaredismissed for raisingahealthandsafetycomplaint;because theyarepregnant;orbecause theyareasserting their right to thenationalminimumwage.Dismissal for thesereasons, andmanymore,donotrequire any lengthof service tobringaclaimofunfair dismissal.Several groupsofpeople are
protected in theworkplace, and it isimportant that theyarenot treatedless favourablybecauseof their“protectedcharacteristic”.Protectedcharacteristics includerace, sex, ageanddisability. Lessfavourable treatmenton thesegrounds is likely toconstituteunlawfuldiscrimination,whichcanlead tounlimitedcompensation.There isno length-of-service
requirement tomakeaclaimin thesecircumstances.This extends totreatmentbeforeemploymentevenstarts (during recruitment), andalsoafteremploymenthasended (whendealingwith references, forexample).Anequal opportunitiespolicy
is a goodwayof conveyingyouranti-discriminationethos.
On a wet afternoon,Emma-Jayne Parkesand Viviane Jaegerducked into theBritish Library. Stu-dents at the London
College of Fashion, they wantedto find out how to protect aproduct theyhaddesigned.“We got a lot more than we
expected,” said Parkes, 28, whostarted a design venture, SquidLondon, with Jaeger in 2008.“The free access to databases,market research and expertadvice was everything weneeded.We struckgold.”The pair, who work from a
studio in Shoreditch, eastLondon, receivedhelpwith theirbusiness plan, attended work-shops on how to start up, andhad sessions with lawyers whoadvised them on how to protecttheirdesignsandraise capital.Parkes and Jaeger, 30, crafted
an umbrella that changes colourand patterns in the rain. Theylined upmore than 100 stockistsand sold 150,000 units in 18countries. Three-quarters ofsalescome fromoverseas.“You wouldn’t think so much
help is freely available. Alllibraries should have businessand IP [intellectual property]centres,” saidParkes.Many entrepreneurs are un-
aware of the free help available.There are organisations dedi-cated to providing resources,including not-for-profit entitiesfunded by local authorities andthe EuropeanRegional Develop-mentFund(ERDF).“People don’t know what to
do with an idea or where to gowith it,” said IsabelOswell, headof business and research audi-ences at the British Library. Itscentre, open since 2006, claimsto have helped start about 3,000companies. It estimates its freeservicesareworth£20mayear.The model has been adopted
in Newcastle, Birmingham,Leeds, Sheffield, Manchesterand Liverpool, with access toresearch tools, workshops andone-to-one advice. “People canget exactly the same service as inLondon,” saidOswell.
She added that the centres —which cost about £200,000 ayear to operate—are bidding forfunding fromtheERDF.“We nicked the idea from
New York public library, whichhas been helping entrepreneursfor years,” said Oswell. “It’sindispensable to the start-upandsmall-businesseconomy.”Other organisations, too, let
budding entrepreneurs stop infor free one-to-one mentoringand assistance with businessplans, and point those seekingcapital in the rightdirection.In northwest England, bodies
such as Enterprise4All and theHyndburn Enterprise Trust pro-vide mentoring, seminars andadvice services. In theWestMid-lands, Young Britain and BizBritaindo the same.In Wales, Business in Focus
has seven offices and 70 staffwho work with entrepreneurs,offering advice and helping to
source capital, including publicsectorgrants.“Finding the right kind of
cash is important,” said KatyChamberlain, chief executive ofBusiness in Focus. The organisa-tion claims to have helped startmore than 2,000 companies andis a delivery partner for the gov-
ernment’s Start Up Loans pro-gramme, which provides cheaploans and mentoring. “Manyindividuals are unemployed andwe help them see that they haveoptions. Support is available.”Online tools can assist in
understanding thebasics. Enter-prise Nation, the small business
network, offers a 12-weekstart-up course that gives advicebyemail.It offers tips onbusiness plans,
how to register a company,starting up on a budget, tappinginto socialmedia, andmarketingand finance. Through its Go andGrowOnlineprogramme, it nowoffers free workshops for com-panies including help withstart-up finance, ecommerce,copywritingandwebdesign.Business websites such as
Smarta charge for a certain levelof membership but have a rangeof free services that can help togetabusinessoff the ground.The site publishes guides on
howto startup in specific sectorsand provides a 30-day elearningprogramme on brand identityandapproachingcustomers.“There’s lots out there; you
just have to know where tolook,” said Sarah Akwisombe,editorat Smarta.
Chris Gorell Barnes, partner of Martha Lane Fox, is also campaigning to save the seas
TV ads are dead: we help topbrands tell their stories on video
JONATHANCOLE
KingstonSmithLLP, the charteredaccountant, andPeninsula, theemployment law firm, canadviseowner-managers on their problems.Sendyourquestions toBusinessDoctor,TheSundayTimes,3ThomasMoreSquare,LondonE98 1ST.Advice isgivenwithout legal responsibility.
Business doctorViviane Jaeger and
Emma-Jayne Parkeswith their umbrellasthat change colour
BEN CAWTHRA
There’s plenty ofhelp for newentrepreneurs —and often it won’tcost a thing,says Kiki Loizou
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