Money Making Schemes

Nagesh answers:

You could add Google adwords which would give you a few pennies each time someone clicks through them – you might earn from a few pounds to several hundred per month. Of course, your own site needs to be highly ranked in Google to get any appreciable traffic and therefore enough click-throughs to make it worthwhile.

Then, you can sell goods through an affiliate scheme, which is where people see the product on your site, click a ‘buy’ button and they’re then transferred to the affiliate supplier site to make the purchase – you get a percentage of the sale amount, say 5-10%. It’s only worth trying to sell things that are directly relevant to your site, though. You can sign up for an affiliate account at http://www.awin1.com/cread.php?s=39115&v=3&q=14&r=75764

Here’s an example of the above in practice at one of my affiliate sites where I sell shoes and include Google adwords http://www.iselldiscountdrmartenshoes.co.uk/

Nagesh answers:

I would reiterate an earlier answer and say that it is ALWAYS the right time to start a pension. Over the full term of the pension, the ups and downs should really iron themselves out.
If you are over twenty, then you should consider a pension, most UK employers are now obliged to offer a pension scheme that can easily be transferred when you change jobs (stakeholder pension). Many employers actually contribute to the scheme too – if this is the case, then YES – it’s a no-brainer, take advantage of any company scheme that offers to contribute to your pension (the company I work for contributes 7% of my income, and I contribute another 7%). Even if they don’t contribute, it should be very easy for your employer to arrange your contributions and take care of the tax issues.
The only circumstances where you don’t need to think about a pension is if you are working on a casual basis or likely to earn vast amounts that will enable you to make your own financial arrangements for your future.
My final bit of advice is this: don’t go half-measures – if you decide to do this, make a real go of it to make sure you end up with a decent income. If you just ‘dabble’ and don’t really put a significant amount in, then you will have wasted all your money. Consider this, if you DON’T put money aside for your pension, what will happen? The state will provide you with income support up to a set level. If you only put a small amount into your pension, you may find that all you have done is to take the onus off the state to look after you, and you may well have only provided enough to just keep you above the level where the state was going to support you anyhow! So…either do it properly or don’t bother – that’s my philospohy!

Nagesh answers:

You will need to get yourself sorted with an accountant.
They are usually best placed to give you the lowdown on what you have to pay.
If you going to be VAT registered check out the Flat rate vat scheme on the HMRC site. It will save a lot of time and probably make you more money.
It really depends on whether he is going to go Ltd. , SE, Partnership etc. All subject to different rules.
Unfortunately in this country the tax man will screw you over whatever you try and do.
They have recently removed the 1st £10,000 tax free rule on corporation tax and raised the rate. Another stealth tax to take a further £2000 off each honest small business.
I’ll go now ‘cos I’m starting to sound bitter and twisted.
Good luck with the venture!

Nagesh answers:

Well the libraries would still have to buy books – and for popular books they’d have to buy multiple copies.

In addition, there is (in the UK at least) something called the Public Lending Right, by which scheme authors get a (small) honorarium each time one of their works is borrowed.

Nagesh answers:

No, they don’t need explicit permission for individual mailings. If your details are a matter of public record – for instance, if you appear on the edited electoral register – then organisations can process your information and use it for the purpose of direct mail.

You might want to find out about the Mailing Preference Service (www.mpsonline.org.uk) which will reduce the extent to which your data is used for this purpose; you should also be careful to ensure that you tick or untick the correct boxes next time your local council sends you electoral registration information.

The other thing to look out for is the small print and tiny tickboxes whenever you sign up for something – for instance, if you join a clubcard scheme at your local bookshop, make sure that you look out for the opt-out (or opt-in) somewhere on the form which prohibits the store from sharing your details with other companies and organisations which may offer “products and services in which you may be interested” (or similar). Most stores exist within a large corporate group and once you let your address slip through the net all the related businesses can legally direct-mail you.

MPS will help, but be vigilant about what you do with your details.

(If it all fails, a good strategy to make you feel better is to save up your junk mail and reply envelopes and then swap them around, sending one business’s junk mail to another business in their own pre-paid envelope! It costs the receiving company though, so best not to do it with charities – you can’t blame them for trying).