Well, what a year it has been! I don’t think anybody at the start of the year would imagine what a year 2020 was going to turn out to be. It has certainly been a tester for many businesses including us. We have been in a position to see the lows of the lockdown rules and the tole it has taken on some of our client’s businesses as well as see the highs and watch the success of many others.
I want to start by saying thank you. We have been in a very fortunate position this year in terms of business where we have completed over 25 websites, expanded our website hosting services to over 60 websites and grown our SEO client base by 200% since the start of the year 2020. As Covid hit, the tech world went mad, from small independent businesses to online personal trainers the online presences of these businesses came to the forefront of their marketing plans. We have been lucky to see great success with the likes of Davids of Haslemere and Fitness Runs in the Family as well as many others.
In 2020 we were in a position where we were able to take on a full-time Project manager role. As much as I (Ollie) like to be in charge of everything sometimes delegation is important, apparently! In March we welcomed Aaron to the team. He joins myself and Dan our web developer in this little business.
A thank you to the “Lads”.
As much as I love to take full credit for the work we do here it simply would not be possible without Dan & Aaron. Dan has been with us for nearly 2 years on a part-time basis while studying at university but has still managed in his time to complete over 40 websites/projects. Aaron joined us at the start of lockdown 1.0 in what could only be described as a scary time for a business owner! I used to follow a similar business who I once read that the best piece of advice their CEO was given was to hire staff before you need them. I had always wondered why until we started looking to take someone else on. At the time our cash flow said no, we simply did not have the funds each month to pay another member of staff but then the other part of me said yes, reduce my workload and free up my time as the owner to look for more work. Taking Aaron on as a business owner was bloody scary and for a while financially draining but over time as the business grew Aaron has proven his worth and now takes on over 50% of our client base. To wrap this up thank you to both of you for a great year and let’s make 2021 even better!
Self-employed to Limited
Oh fun, those dreaded words of tax, HMRC and accountants. As mentioned 2020 was a great year for us so the jump from self-employed to limited is now happening. Don’t get me wrong I am excited but do I understand it all? Heck no! Self-employment is easy to understand, what comes in, what goes out, what left is yours, roughly. Limited on the other hand where does one start, I will leave it to the experts.
What does this mean for you?
We are still the same and you need to do nothing. Over the next month, we will be transitioning to the new company formation which will take effect on the 1st of February 2021. Our invoicing will change to include our legal name of the company as well as our VAT details, more on this in a minute. Nothing else is planned to change. 100% of our direct debits go through Go Cardless of which will stay completely the same. Our Bank details might change but this has yet to be confirmed.
Payment by Debit & Credit Card
We have now launched our new payment platform allowing you to pay by debit or credit card as well as the existing way via bacs transfer. So many of our clients have been asking for this and I am so sorry it has taken so long to set up, let’s just say getting your projects finished was more important than this.
VAT (Please read)
Oh bugger! It was going to happen at some point but is it necessarily a bad thing? Having spent many hours going through our client database I would be roughly correct saying over 85% of our clients are VAT registered meaning this should have no effect on you whats so ever. For all the other business I am sorry. Please do not hesitate to get in contact with me if you are not VAT registered so we can work out the best plan of action for you.
What does it mean for you and what do I need you to do.
Hopefully nothing, fingers crossed. VAT will be added to any active direct debits set up with us via Go Cardless, for example, if your monthly hosting with us is £10 per month it will now be £12 of which if you are VAT registered can reclaim the £2 VAT. Another example is if your monthly SEO fee is £350 it will now be £420, of which again if you are VAT registered can reclaim the £70 VAT.
All invoices will make it clear of the total VAT amount for that invoice.
For all our non VAT registered Business
Below I have outlined our plan during this transition stage for all our clients who are not VAT registered. Please get in contact with me if you are not VAT registered and this is going to affect your business.
- Website payment plans / remaining invoices for current agreed work
- We will not charge you VAT for the remaining of your website direct debit plan if you have one, or the final invoices if they are paid after 31st January 2021. We will take the hit as a company for the VAT instead of you.
- SEO & Hosting payment plans
- We have no choice but to add VAT to these direct debit payments, please do not hesitate to get in contact with me if you need more information about this.
When will VAT and Limited go live?
1st of February 2021. January is normally our busiest month and it just got busier! We will hit the VAT threshold in February 2021 so we have used this date to get everything in order ready for then. As mentioned hopefully there is nothing for you to do in regards to this VAT and legal formation change but of course, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in contact with me.
A Final Push
With everything covered I think, I want to again say thank you for making the crap year of 2020 good and we look forward to working with you in 2021.
