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I’m Dan, a freelance small business journalist and event/podcast host with 20+ years of experience. If you’re looking for small business-focused content or an engaging event host, I’d love to help. Get in touch.
Modest British businesses encouraged to get better at celebrating success
Us Brits are often not great at marking milestones or shouting about our victories, but I’m a big proponent of small business owners celebrating their wins – no matter how big or small they are.
New research out this week shows that celebrating success is not only motivational, but it can also increase revenue and British business owners need to get much better at doing it.
The report by accounting software company Xero surveyed small business owners in the UK, the US, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, and South Africa.
It found that those founders who celebrate milestones experience higher revenue rises, on average, than those who don’t (30% vs. 19%), and they were also much more likely to mention that celebrating milestones has a positive impact on their employees’ morale, wellbeing, and motivation.
But despite the major benefits, the report said “UK small businesses owners appear to find the whole idea of milestones – identifying them, reaching them and celebrating them – deeply uncomfortable”.
It found that 40% don’t celebrate milestones at all, and they find it harder to identify a milestone, with UK fouders being at or below-average responders in 20 out of the 22 milestones listed in the survey.
The UK was also bottom out of the six countries for reaching a milestone in the last year (47%), and over a third of UK small businesses (37%) said it has been longer than three years since they’d reached a milestone, the highest of all countries in the survey.
Kate Hayward, UK managing director at Xero, said:
“It’s clear that small businesses don’t make a big deal about their wins. But taking a moment to recognise those special moments – whether big or small – can boost morale, motivation and performance.
“It doesn’t have to be much, small businesses can find ways to celebrate in a way that feels right for them – whether it’s a thank you email to the team, bringing in some treats to share or even a small reward for themselves.”
The top three business milestones for UK small business owners were being able to pay themselves, having repeat customers and reaching profitability targets.
Laura Jackson, co-founder and kernel-in-chief at Popcorn Shed, said:
“One of my biggest milestones was when I saw our popcorn being eaten ‘in the wild’ at an outdoor film screening in Shoreditch by someone I didn’t know. It was pretty amazing and a really happy moment.
“It feels very British to ‘keep calm and carry on’ and sometimes that means we don’t stop to acknowledge how far we’ve come.”
Come on UK small business owners, let’s get better at celebrating our wins!
$800 ‘de minimis’ duty free limit for exporters to the US to end on 29 August
UK businesses exporting goods to the US that have previously benefitted from the $800 duty free limit will be subject to tariffs from 29 August.
As part of President Donald Trump’s introduction of tariffs on countries around the world, he signed an executive order ending a global tariff exemption on low-cost goods.
The de minimis rule currently allows goods valued at $800 or less to be imported into the US without paying any tariffs. The exemption for Chinese goods was scrapped on 2 May, and it will now apply to the rest of the world from 29 August.
As explained by new Royal Mail guidance, the executive order states that customs duties will be calculated using the value of the item and the prevailing country-based tariff for the item’s country of origin (origin of manufacture, not origin of shipment).
In addition, customs duties on items need to be paid to US Customs before items enter the US. Goods will not be accepted without duties paid on them.
Royal Mail also shared the following advice to exporters to the US:
- Senders in the UK will have to calculate, collect (or account for) duties at the point of sale. You may want to consider doing this by integrating a ‘landed cost calculator’ at your online checkout to calculate ‘landed cost’ (taxes and duties). Landed cost calculators can also collect those taxes and duties. The duties are then payable to US Customs in advance of items entering the USA.
- Decide how you will account for these duties with your customers (e.g., you can choose to pass the cost of duties on to your customers or absorb it) and ensure your customs data is accurate.
Commenting on the change, Parcelhero’s David Jinks, said:
“The move will have a significant impact on UK-US exports of goods including clothing (such as waxed jackets), leather products (such as handbags) and even bicycles and other products. All such goods, but especially smaller items sold through international e-commerce platforms and shipped by airfreight, would be impacted by lower exemption thresholds and increased paperwork and customs checks.
“A recent study by Yale and UCLA economists reveals that eliminating de minimis channels entirely will lead to a loss of $14 billion for American consumers and importers. Low-income and minority consumers will be disproportionately impacted, as their purchasing power will be weakened.”
Young entrepreneurs offered chance to win £5,000 grant
Three quarters of 16 to 19 year olds have ambitions to start a business, according to new research released to mark the launch of a new £50,000 fund for young entrepreneurs.
The data from Simply Business found that while the entrepreneurial spirit is strong, 51% are held back by a lack of funding, 46% need mentorship and 61% highlighted the limited business education in schools.
The insurance firm has launched a new Young Entrepreneur Fund which will award £5,000 grants to 10 entrepreneurs aged between 18 and 30. They will also receive six weeks of tailored business support.
The shortlisted applicants will be judged by musician and entrepreneur Professor Green, The Apprentice winner and founder of Oh So Yum Harpreet Kaur, Simply Business UK CEO Julie Fisher and Hatch Enterprise CEO Rebekah Sun.
Find full details here.
Surge in business rates appeals predicted
New government figures indicate there will a “tsunami” of business rates appeals, experts have predicted.
According to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), in the 27 months since the beginning of the 2023 list (1 April 2023 to 30 June 2025), 162,440 ‘checks’, the first part of the appeal process, were registered in England, of which 17,330 are still outstanding.
Of the 35,910 which progressed to the ‘challenge’ (second) stage of the process, over half (20,160) were still outstanding nine months before the end of the three year list on 31 March 2026.
In addition, only 9,340 (26%) of challenges had been resolved so far, with 6410 (18%) labelled as “incomplete” by the VOA and therefore struck out or declared void.
Business rates experts Colliers said many businesses have up to now held back from registering their appeals, but it predicted that the next seven months new Checks will “flood the already creakingly slow system as the deadline approaches”.
John Webber, head of business rates at Colliers, said:
“Many businesses have only recently finished disputing their values from the 2017 list and are only now turning to look at the 2023 list.
“And for those businesses in the RHL (retail, hospitality and leisure) sectors who received reliefs on their business rates bills in the first two years of this list, the economic picture is now getting much tougher as the reliefs have been significantly cut and will soon disappear altogether. They will undoubtedly now consider disputing current rateable values.
“We think as businesses return from their summer holidays in September, they will start to put their appeals in against their current valuations. And looking at the numbers we at Colliers are already advising, we estimate there will be about 100,000 new appeals (checks) across the industry lodged over the next seven months.”
Webber advises that businesses should challenge their rates bills if they can, as the VOA datas shows that 60% of businesses who challenged their business rates valuations saw a reduced RV (rateable value) as a result and only 0.6% saw an increase.
However, he said is concerned about how slow the system is to get challenges resolved.
Webber continued: “If 56% of challenges have still not been resolved 27 months on from being registered, how will the VOA cope with the expected 100,000 of new businesses disputing their 2023 valuations in the next seven months?
“By next April the VOA will also need to start working on the 2029 list, for which the law will change giving businesses only a six-month window in which to appeal. It’s going to be carnage.
“The burden of business rates is too high and the lack of transparency about how bills are arrived at remains the root cause of this shocking number of people trying to appeal their rate bills. We believe the VOA is severely under resourced to deal with these numbers in the timeframe and will struggle. Businesses will miss out.
We believe businesses need and deserve a better appeals system- and they need it now.“
Dan, a freelance small business journalist and event host with 20+ years of experience. If you’re looking for small business-focused content or an engaging event host, I’d love to help. Get in touch.
Dan Martin 