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Take your point Barney .. but wouldn't it be nice if newspapers actually printed news?

Congrats on getting paid.

For the life of me, I can't work out how she expected to benefit from being a slow payer. She's in business for herself so she'd know the risks.

A thought - do you email the client written details of what you'll be doing for them, your terms and conditions and a summary of the technical issues involved in dealing with the pest that worries them?

If clients don't understand or can't remember what you've told them, they may be reluctant to pay when (from their perspective) the problem isn't sorted.

I use "best wishes" for the formal ones. After all, most of the time you want people to be happy and prosperous, don't you !!

There's no salutation at all - only my name and contact details - at the conclusion of one of my really snotty emails.

Sorry, another minor technical issue I ought to be able to solve for myself but can't (quickly enough) ...

I've got the right language setting on Windows 7 (British English) but I don't know how to tell my PC that as far as I'm concerned, you spell words like realise with an "s" and not a "z". It's tedious correcting the mis-spellings.

I suppose I could turn off the spellchecker but I don't want to ...

Can anybody help please?

Probably not relevant as the info's so old but ... I took out an eighth page ad in Yellow Pages back in the Dark Ages (you know, before every company had a web site). It brought in enough local business to be worthwhile.

A lot depends on the type of business you're in. Your local market will be very important to you (mine's more of a national market with most customers coming from the South-East).

Some of your target audience will probably feel more comfortable doing a paper-based search, other OAPs will surf the net.

You're selling trustworthiness, reliability, care and compassion. What's probably most important to you is personal recommendation / being personally known.

Who do you know who's got her ear to the local marketplace and is well connected? When I wanted to know about good local tradesmen, for example, I talked to neighbours who'd lived in the village all their lives and / or drank in the local pubs.

Janet

I'm still a bit confused about what types of homecare services you provide for adults. You've probably told us already but would you remind us please?

If it's support services - eg granny sitting, domestic support and house-cleaning for the disabled and elderly - then wouldn't it be a good idea to make contact with the local Social Services Dept, Age Concern, Stroke Association and the like? My local Council has a list of vetted organisations available to help vulnerable adults and OAPs, free advertising for everyone that's on it! Linda

You can just imagine the chat before a Cabinet meeting, can't you?

Dave: "Just when are you going to get the economy sorted, George?"

George: "2020 sound OK? No? Well, we want to keep our jobs after 2015, we need a cunning plan to distract the punters. You're the PR whizz kid so get cracking ... but it can't cost us any money cos the deficit's growing too fast as it is".

Dave: sighs, stirs coffee, sighs again.

Lightbulb moment.

Dave: "For instant strop you can't beat extending your home. We'll relax planning permission, won't cost a penny."

George: "Brilliant - but don't you dare extend no 10".

Experiencing an upward blip at present . Long may it last!

Reasonably enough, you're saying (small business) clients should be informed clients before they make the purchase decision ... sad to say, most are not. I doubt whether they even know how to get hold of objective information that's relevant for a small company. I don't.

You've given a very helpful list of things to think about.