The subject of pricing reared its ugly head again recently when my partner and I had a heated discussion about what price to quote for two projects we'd been invited to tender for. I felt my partner was going in too low and that we were undervaluing both the quality of the work and our time. He, however, felt that the quotes I wanted to give were too high and that we would lose out on the jobs. As ever in business we compromised somewhere in the middle, but it did raise the thorny issue of where we should set our pricing.

What you decide to charge for your product or service is one of the most important decisions you will make as a business person. Both too high and too low will cause you potential problems with your sales and cashflow and will affect the growth of your business. This isn't purely about new businesses as it's also important for established businesses to carry out regular reviews of their pricing to help improve their profitability. Plus, of course, new and growing businesses must always be aware of what their competitors are doing in terms of pricing.

Perhaps you are in the situation where you know you want to start your own business, but have the really tough dilemna of choosing what type of business to open. People using a particular skill or expertise often take it for granted that they will start a business in that area, but the same isn't true for all of us.

Some entrepreneurs are actively trying to leave a previous career behind or have several ideas but need to pinpoint the one that will be most profitable. Finding the next big thing or current hot areas is not easy, otherwise we'd all be millionaires. Plus, once a new trend emerges it's often then flooded with businesses, which means survival of the strongest. So, you've got to get in fast, and be the best. Your choice of business will also depend on your budget. Do you need office space, stock, staff, kit? All this costs money, and so the lower your start up costs the better chance you will have of success.

The best businesses for 2012? Well, according to startups.co.uk these are ten of the best...

When starting up a business, unless it's part of the core ethos of that company, it's very possible that environmental considerations do not rank very high when it comes to getting your business up and running. This, of course, is very understandable given the amount of time, money and effort that goes into launching a business. However, it's worth thinking about some of these stats, which will actually help you save money as well as helping your business to be at least a little but green.

Small businesses are being targeted again with the news that HMRC is contacting over 40,000 sole traders and one man companies who they believe should be paying VAT, which is presently set at a threshold of £73,000.

 

Businesses need to ensure they are fully aware of the financial situation of their company or risk facing fines up to 100%. At present businesses that aren’t VAT registered, but should be, are being offered a partial amnesty with reduced penalties on the outstanding VAT until 30^th September, 2011. However, the HMRC has reserved the right to hand out fines up to 100% where it believes a business knew it should have been registered but didn’t come forward. How the HMRC will decide whether they believe a business knew they should have been VAT registered is not clear.