However, running a small business can be a lonely place. When my team and I are out in communities across the country talking to them, we hear about brilliant ideas with great energy, but also plenty of challenges that give them sleepless nights.

These issues range from new rules set out by HMRC to Make Tax Digital to the escalating need for an online presence, and we’re committed to helping them solve these problems. That’s why, with the help of our partners at Enterprise Nation, we will host a series of small business events and workshops in some of our branches across the country.

The workshops will address these challenges head on alongside advice from industry experts. Each workshop will have an independent host who will provide professional guidance on topics, such as how to help your business shine online, how to build a brand on a budget and Making Tax Digital.

New rules by HMRC, focusing on making tax submissions digital, requiring records to be kept digitally and submissions made on HMRC compatible software have significantly impacted SMEs. The change can be daunting and SMEs with fewer resources and less time are having to adapt. That’s why our workshop will help address this and provide helpful toolkits to make this process as simple as possible.

Customers have also highlighted a lack of expertise in digital proficiency and online know-how. Our ‘Helping Your Business Shine Online’ programme will allow us to help them with their digital marketing and give us the opportunity to signpost them to useful resources that might help boost their productivity. 

These events are part of TSB’s commitment to SMEs, and Enterprise Nation is the perfect partner for us to deliver this support. It also helps us understand those challenges budding entrepreneurs face, so we can continue to work together to help our customers start, run and grow their business.

Our initial three workshops will take place in Manchester, Cheltenham and Glasgow, where we found a significant uptake in small business owners looking for advice and guidance, especially when it came to online accounting and digital admin tasks. 

We’re also continuing our partnership with Enterprise Nation on its ‘Start Something Workshops’ — aimed at entrepreneurs between the age of 16–30 — which started at the beginning of this year. Much more to follow on this…