There are pearls - and then THERE ARE PEARLS!

A recent enquiry led me to find out more information about the world of pearls, and it became an investigation into a particular kind of pearl, the Tahitian Black Pearl. The only pearl in the world which is naturally dark, other kinds are coloured - something that was new to me - it comes in sizes of around 6mm up to 14mm.

And the colour can vary from pale grey through mid grey to near black. These stunning cultured pearls are only grown on Tahiti and in the South Seas.

What do these items cost? Well, anything from £10 - £3000 each! The price depends on size, evenness of shape, thickness of the nacre, which is the covering of mother of pearl the oyster puts around the impurity inside its shell, colour evenness and (lack of) blemishes.

The pearls only come from one type of oyster, the Pinctada margaritafera mollusk. It takes two years for an oyster to mature enough to produce pearls. The cultured Tahitian pearl comes in various shapes, sizes, and colors; shapes include round, semi-round, button, circle, oval, teardrop, semi-baroque and baroque. Because of their darker hues, Tahitian pearls are commonly known as "black pearls". However, Tahitian pearls have the ability to contain various undertones and overtones of green, pink, blue, silver and yellow.

It would be lovely to work with these beautiful pearls one day....

Becoming A CAP Business Club Member

It is only 5 months since I opened the doors of Kit & Caboodle Boutique in Lydney. Most days I thoroughly enjoy my work at Kit & Caboodle, but I must admit there have been a few difficult days during these last five months. These difficult days tend to be when I am working alone and the boutique is quiet. This is when there is no one to talk issues through with, or share ideas with.

This is one of the reasons that I am so pleased to have become a member of the CAP Business Clubs. Already having only attended two meetings and the fabulously inspiring and lively talk given by Dr Paul Thomas, that I feel that there are people who will help to inspire me and hopefully I can inspire and support them too.

I am looking forward to meeting more of the CAP Business Club Members over the coming weeks and months and I would therefore like to invite all members of any of the three clubs to pop into Kit & Caboodle Boutique to introduce themselves, when they are in Lydney.

It will never happen to me - will it?

Looking at the evidence, you could be forgiven for assuming that business owners never fall seriously ill or die.

Most companies make sure they have public liability insurance and cover for contents, fire and theft. And one would expect anyone running a small to medium sized company to recognise that the serious illness or death of a key person would have a potentially devastating effect on the business, not least to its value and profitability.

Yet when it comes to key people, many adopt a high risk strategy by doing absolutely nothing about cover at all.

Without question, the consequences of such inaction are potentially dire. What would happen, for example, if the business owner or major shareholder became seriously ill or died?

Let’s take the case of two shareholders, A and B. They spend all their time in the business and then suddenly, A dies. Who would acquire the shares previously owned by A? Has A made a Will? Would the shares go to A’s spouse, children – or someone else?

Shareholder B could now be in a very difficult position. Will B be able to carry on running the company as he or she wants? Who will exercise the voting rights of the shares previously held by A? Even if the person inheriting the shares wants to sell them, could B afford to buy?

It could be more bad news for A’s family as well. What if B cannot afford to buy the shares – or doesn’t want to? Where does that leave A’s family? They could be ‘locked in’ to a company with no real prospect of any income or other financial support at a time when they need it most.

Given that serious illness, such as cancer or a heart attack, affects one in four women and one in five men before retirement age*, potential scenarios like these are not uncommon. Yet the problems facing A and B could all have been perfectly ironed out if the right safeguards had already been put in place.

Share purchase and partnership protection ensures business succession as well as the safeguarding of commercial interests and family legacy. This protection provides funds to allow remaining business owners to buy the shares of the business from the outgoing or deceased owner. By putting this simple arrangement in place, capital is available to help purchase this person’s interest.

So in the cases of shareholders A and B, with these measures in place, solutions would have been found for both parties by utilising life cover, a business trust**, a legal document called a cross option agreement, and structuring Wills** correctly.

On A’s death, the shares could pass into a Will Trust, set up for the benefit of the spouse and other family members. At the same time, the monies payable on A’s death from the life policy could pass into a Business Trust for the benefit of B and family.

The cross option agreement then allows the shares to pass into the Business Trust and the money moves across into the Will Trust which can then be used to benefit A’s family.

For A, the Will Trust structure will provide Inheritance Tax savings to be made on the spouse’s death later on, and long term planning opportunities for A’s children. It also provides a useful ‘asset protection mechanism’ for the family in the future.

Meanwhile, as almost every privately owned business ends up being sold or transferred one day, B can take advantage of some useful long term tax planning opportunities for the future by holding shares previously owned by A in a Life Policy Trust.

Having all the correct protection in place and ensuring this is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect business changes is a particularly onerous and daunting task for time-hungry entrepreneurs. It is one which is best left to a wealth management specialist to help protect the business from a wide range of risks and ensure business owners meet their aims while concentrating on managing their company.

At the same time, a wealth expert can help owners with all those other neglected financial affairs such as formulating a carefully planned exit strategy,*** retirement planning, investment planning, mortgages, healthcare and other insurance.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Charlotte Poole-Graham represents only St. James's Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group's wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group's website www.sjp.co.uk/products. 

*This Is Money (20/9/11)
** Wills and Trusts are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Wills and the writing of Wills involves the referral to a service which is separate and distinct to those offered by St. James's Place.
*** Exit strategies may include the referral to a service which is separate and distinct to those offered by
St. James's Place.
 

Have you ever been sent on a course by your employer and thought, “I don’t want to be here”.

This happens a lot in First Aid.



Think of the situation, you are sat at home watching TV with your partner. All of a sudden you hear a funny noise, you look at your partner and they are struggling for breath, sweating, changing colour, complaining of pain and struggling to talk to you. What do you do?

First Aiders know what to do!!!

Call 999 and ask for an Ambulance! Give them your location, your partner’s details, tell them what is happening. Don’t hang up the phone!! They will help you through it.

Carry out a primary survey, DRSABC

D = Danger

R = Response

S = Shout

A = Airway

B = Breathing

C = Circulation

This is also known as Basic Life Support, this can save a loved ones life!

Don’t think of first aid as something you have to do because of work. Think how you could save someone close to you.

Eight minutes is a long time doing something on your own when you are not sure what your doing. That’s roughly how long it will take an ambulance to get to you.

Book a course place today to learn more.

Profile Pics - Are Important!

I’m still amazed by the number of LinkedIn profiles which don’t have any sort of profile image at all.

When you think about it, all of those individual business people have decided that LinkedIn, this rapidly expanding professional social media site (predicted to be a key element of your social media strategy in 2014 – Forbes) is right for them to tell their B2B story, that it’s a great channel for connecting to other businesses in your key target sectors - but somehow a picture of the person you want them to engage with doesn’t rank as a main consideration? In fact, the complete lack of images is a problem with a great many LinkedIn profiles. Think about it this way? No one would image that a Facebook profile with only reams of text and no pictures would be very interesting to read! Obviously there are different considerations for your choice of images to represent your business to anything you would use on a personal site – but it is still true to say that a picture paints a…………..

Profile headshots; all business networks, such as LinkedIn, are designed to help with those crucial first B2B approaches and to allow other people to start to engage with you. It’s a great, and personal, way to connect with many people you could ever hope to meet face to face. It follows therefore that real consideration about how you want to be seen is necessary. This is the bit where you realise that the anonymous default head silhouette, a scan of a 6x4 of yourself at some ones wedding wearing a bow tie (they are on there) or an arms-length “selfie” from your phone or tablet isn’t going to work out too well!

Your profile image needs to be genuine i.e. recent, appropriate and relevant to the target market you want to engage with but it also needs to look natural. I work with artists and performers who don’t suffer the angst and accompanying navel gazing afflicting mere mortals (myself included) when we get in front of the camera. So, unless you “do five minutes when the fridge door opens” build in some time to relax. A good portrait photographer won’t even start work on the final images until she or he can see that you are starting to relax in to it. This is not going to happen if you’re already behind schedule, your phone is vibrating constantly or you’re worrying about your latest quarter figures. Here are some of the basics 

• Think about, or discuss with your photographer, how you want to look – what’s your message/s? A good photographer will create a mental “brief” from this conversation that will help with any other work they do for you.
  

• Do you want studio, indoor (workplace) or outdoor PR shots? If you are commissioning other work at your plant or offices – make sure you specify an in-situ PR shot in the package. Ideally you’ll have a few great PR shots so you can ring the changes on your social media. 
  

• For studio shots, think about the background colour you need to blend with your website theme particularly. It’s not just about stills either – a studio is an ideal location for a video piece to camera. 
  

• Take a change of tops or jackets (headshots) so you can get a couple of different shots in the same session. Props are cool too but need to be used intelligently.
  

• Have a little bit of fun while you’re doing it and let the real you show through. 

David Broadbent is a professional photographer with over 30 years of editorial experience now represented worldwide by the Alamy picture agency.  As well as fully equipped location work, David also runs Summerhouse Studio, an informal small studio ideal for stills and video of people PR and products, from his home in the Forest of Dean. To see more of David’s work visit www.davidbroadbent.com or his folios on LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. Or to actually talk to another human call him on 07771 664973.