businesses Archives - God's Lily Training

It starts with prayer

The number of times I have had an idea and then said God is this a good idea and then not brought that idea to completion has to be seen to be believed. I am a chronic start and non-finisher.

It takes discipline and organisation to start and keep going. That comes from having a plan. A plan is only possible when you know what the outcome is going to be. The issue is then how do you work out where you are going so that you can plan a route to that destination. A plan is really a way of working out how you move from one situation to another and you can only do that if you know where you are and where you are going.

The approach I have taken is to try and determine what is a godly revelation which is not and then work towards bringing the godly ones to reality. It is a question of brining to earth the things that God has foreordained and pre-planned down to earth.

Planning in heaven

The impression the Bible gives is that before the world was created a plan was put into place. An overall plan was broken down into plans for nations, businesses, regions, churches communities and of course individuals. Plans that are there waiting for us to follow.

Problem is that we humans need to find out what these plans are is we are going to work with them. We cannot do that if we are jabbering on praying for help and leaving God the opportunity to get a word in edgewise to tell us what to do. We need to open two way channels. Prayer, journalling, prophecy and worship all have something to contribute to opening and maintaining that two way channel.

The idea is that the receiving part of our channel is tuned into the plans that are already in place in heaven. It does not matter whether you think of those plans being written in scrolls as they would have been in bible days or as 3d computer generated models embedded in a video presentation. God is good at translating ideas and information into a language or format we can absorb.

Think about it. How many languages does he need to speak to communicate with everyone on earth? If He can speak to me in English rather than Swahili so I can understand Him He will speak to me in pictures if that makes it easier for me to understand.

How I have tried to do this?

I was trying to think how come I managed to open this two way channel. You see not everyone has. The only thing I could think of was that I started asking for advice and guidance.

What was that idea about knock and the door will open, seek and you will find and ask and it will be given to you. that is what I did. Starting with asking where I should go to do a degree and being guided to a specific place.

Once the door has been opened once and left ajar you (and others) can see the light behind it. That is what happened to me. Sometime later someone saw that light. They said God had a purpose for me but could not see enough to tell me what it was. I had to go away and pray to see what was behind that door.

As time went on I got into the habit of asking questions. What do you want me to do? How do I do that? The more questions I was asking the more answers I was given. Questions and answers like that are only possible in relationships. It is only those who are willing and able to learn that truly seek out the answers to their questions.

The more answers I received the easier to became to hear. It is a matter of practice. The strange thing is this developing trust or should I say opening that door wider is under my control. I can close it anytime I want. I can stop it opening wider if I fear that I am doing the wrong thing or not hearing accurately. I can say God I trust this person to share with me what is on your heart and so receive prophetic words.

How will you do it?

The first thing to remember is if you do not ask questions you will not get any answers. It helps to ask the right questions. It also helps to ask questions for the right reasons.

There are many people who ask the question how will I be able to earn enough money to support my family? That does not sound a bad question but is it as good as it sounds. Maybe a better question would be how do I serve you God i.e. be your hands and feet doing the things you want to happen in the world so that you can fulfil your promise of taking care of those who do what you want them to do.

In some situations that might be a subtle shift in emphasis. In others, it could be a dramatic change in approach. Whatever it is the focus shifts from you getting your needs met to working with God to get His needs met.

BTW just because you are serving Him does not mean that you have to go to Outer Mongolia or some such place. You might serve Him by sweeping the streets or by setting up a business or working in the local hospital or the city centre night club. You might end up a millionaire if that suits God’s purposes but if not He will always see that your needs are met.

See what I mean by the importance of asking the right questions for the right reasons. However, don’t let that put you off. You need to get started asking questions. Remember the story about the car that needed to be moved. People started pushing it but once it was moving it was so much easier to steer. In other words just get started and you can do the fine tuning as you go.

My question is what is going to be your first question?

Does our experience shape our theology or should our theology shape our experience?

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I have heard people on both sides of this argument say the other approach is wrong. The issue becomes what shapes our expectations. We will only see what we expect to see. What we expect will colour our expectations of what we take in via our senses. I will explain what I mean by using one of the less contentious discussions that have arisen as a result.

What do we mean by a carpenter?

A strange question. We are told that Jesus was brought up by a carpenter so it is a question that links in with his early life experience.

One obvious answer is that a carpenter is someone who makes something out of wood. What things? Furniture, windows and door frames for houses, decorative woodwork in a house of worship. Those are not the only things made of wood that a carpenter might create but it gives a flavour of the possibilities.

The Greek word tekton is often translated as carpenter. Some say it could be translated as builder, as a tekton also worked in stone. Some describe such a person as an artisan others as a craftsman. So although he may well have made his own furniture the main way that money came to Joseph as that he used his skills on building projects.

What did Joseph help build?

I have heard it suggested that Joseph did some work on the temple in Jerusalem. For the pious Jew, this would be the job of all jobs. There again it would really depend on who wanted building work done and was willing to pay people to do it.

If Joseph had done some work on the temple was Jesus was old enough to go with him as an apprentice? Strange thought, did Jesus actually help build the temple and spend time there early in life? If he did would he have got to know the religious leaders? Was this why as a twelve year old he was so at home talking to these religious leaders?

We don’t know the answers to these questions but we can make some educated guesses. We do this by looking at the biblical account plus non-biblical evidence plus our experience of life.

Did Joseph the carpenter run his own business?

I am not sure that there is any conclusive evidence either way. What I have noticed is that people with jobs tend to see him has having a job. On the other hand, those who have businesses see Joseph as a small businessman.

It is that expectation thing again. If you live in a society where there are lots of small independent family run businesses then that is what you would expect. If your experience is that most people with these kinds of skills work for other people then that is what you would expect.

How do we deal with this situation?

You could say that it is a good thing that we don’t know for sure. If we were told for certain Joseph was a small businessman then those with jobs would feel less attached to the biblical account. If we were told for certain that Joseph had a job and was employed by others then those with a small business would feel less attached to the story.

The sad thing is that it is too easy to argue over something that in fact we do not really have the evidence to say what was the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Does it really matter?

Whatever your interpretation you need to use it wisely? If you see Joseph as a self-employed craftsman then you can use it to encourage more people to start their own business. What you cannot do is to blast people for having a job rather than building up their own business. If you see Joseph as someone employed by others then you cannot use it to blast those who have a calling to set up a business.

The problem comes when the way we interpret things according to ungodly experience. In the example, I have used it would be an extreme position to take if someone said that either running a small business or a having a job was unbiblical.

Interpretation or excuses?

There are other situations where how we interpret things leads us to finding excuses to do things that are unbiblical. Then there are situations where people so blast those who find excuses that those who really should do something dare not do it.

For example, some people who give up on marriage and get a divorce rather than look for help. Then there are other people who are in seriously abusive marriages who say divorce is wrong. They say that marriage is until death shall part and end up staying in that marriage until they are murdered. They kept their marriage vows but lost their life. For them, the idea that divorce is wrong is an excuse to stay in a situation where they could be harmed.

There are people who moan about those who have an experience that they don’t really understand and then say that their experience can be explained from the Bible. Those who have had the experience are accused of interpreting the Bible in a certain way to show that their experience is acceptable.

It is tough knowing just how much impact our interpretation has for good or ill. I suspect the majority of people would override the idea that divorce is wrong if the alternative was the death of one of the partners.

Does iron sharpen iron?

It is strange how the comments that others make force you to examine the way that you do things. They help you see your situation from another perspective. You then moderate your approach and do things that answer their criticisms.

Oh crumbs do you realise what I have just done. I have all but come full circle. Our experience of being criticised can change what we think and what we do. I think that is what it is supposed to be like as this leads to constant improvement.

This is a concentration of this idea. Don’t forget to look at our other posts to find other posts on a similar theme.

Working towards Kingdom solutions

What on earth is the difference between a messenger and an envoy? An envoy is a messenger but the word is also used for a diplomat who ranks next below an ambassador. Diplomats are people sent to foreign parts to represent the interests of the government that sent them. A messenger is someone who just communicates a message and runs errands.

We all know about unreliable people. You know, the the ones who have proved themselves to be like shifting sand. When you have reached out to them for support they have moved and you have struggled as a result. They move, they shift and simply cannot be trusted.

An example of this principle in action

The idea of falling into rouble is an interesting phrase and maybe it is better explained with an example. Suppose someone was asked to pass a message onto to you but they did not really understand the situation that they were supposed to tell you about.

They tell you part of the message but leave out some important details. You ask them about those details but they cannot answer your questions because they do not understand the situation very well. You then decide not to act on the message until you have found the answers that you need. Despite your best efforts you cannot find the answers to your questions until it is too late to act on the message.

This example is based on a real story. In that situation the person carrying the message got into trouble but so did I. I got into trouble for not trusting the person who sent the message and ignoring the way that it was delivered to me.

What a difference it would have made in that situation to have had a message that was accurate and true (that is what faithful means in this situation). What a difference it would have made if there had been an envoy who knew and understood the situation well enough to have truly represented the interests of the person sending the message.

How does this principle work in the online world?

Many centuries ago there was a wise man called Daniel who said that there would come a time when there would be so much information available that the result would be that people ended up totally confused. They would go here and there, backwards and forwards looking for a truthful message that would bring healing.

Strange thing is, that today that seems to be happening. Want to know how to change the battery on your car look on YouTube. Well, that is how I found out how to do it. Want to know more about the medical condition the doctor suggests that you have. There will be all sorts of information about it online.

How does this apply to what you eat?

Just look at the advice online about what you should eat.

Some people say that gluten is public enemy number one. Others say we should never eat any grains so no wheat, no barley no oats no rice or anything made from those things including bread, pasta, porridge and most baked goods.
Others say that sugar is public enemy number one. For them, it is not just sweets, chocolates, cake and desserts that you should avoid at all costs but you also need to cut other things out of your diet like carrots, peas, sweetcorn, parsnips and fruit. They also suggest that you should not eat any processed food as this often contains hidden sugars.
There are also advocates for the plant strong diet where you do not eat any animal products at all.

To be honest, if you excluded all that things that someone online advises you not to eat there would be nothing left to eat, well maybe a lettuce leaf or two.

There are three groups of people who are involved in this situation.

People whose health has improved because they have followed a particular diet.
People who have health problems who are willing to try changing their diet in an attempt to improve their health. They want to learn from those who have found a solution to that problem
People who are encouraging others to set up coaching businesses or write books or set up online courses to share the solutions that they have found.

Now of course not everyone involved in this has motives that are untainted by the lure of making money from this kind of activity. Some are more about helping others solve their problems while others are more about solving their own money related problems.

It is not just the arena of diet and eating where you find these three groups of people. It is just about every area of life. There are people selling information on parenting, dating, married life, divorce recovery, dating again in later life i.e. just about every stage of life. There are people who prepare and sell knitting patterns, model railway designs, or guides and instructions for just about every hobby you can think of off. Then there are guides and helps for business owners and prospective business owners not forgetting people selling tools and products that explain various tactics and strategies to businesses.

The online world and ancient wisdom

Daniel did not have clue about the online world. Even the idea of having electrical devices in the home was beyond his comprehension. Yet 25 centuries ago he suggested a time would come when people would be looking for answers and not be able to find an answer based on ancient wisdom.

Few days now pass without me hearing of yet another person who is encouraging other people to get online and share their message. With all those people encouraging others to get on and share their solution to a problem you can see why there are so many different solutions to the same problem.

How do you know what is the right solution for you? In other words, how do you know who is the reliable messenger? The problem is that it seems an unequal struggle.

All the solution providers have their own stories and stories from satisfied customers. They spend time learning persuasion and visibility techniques so that they can attract people to what they offer. They are taught ways of overcoming objections that people might have to using their methods of solving their problems. They learn strategies and tactics to get people over to their way of doing things.

See what I mean by it being a struggle to know what is the right answer for you. It is also why so many people try many different possible solutions until they find the right one for them. Those offering things are so clever and have such well-developed persuasion tactics that some of the less well-prepared seekers are little more than victims for them.

What should the response of those in the Kingdom be to this situation?

There is one an old saying that applies here i.e. if you cannot beat them join them. One reason why it is so hard for people to find Kingdom solutions is that there are so few people out there who offer them. The few that there are are so well hidden that they are hard to find. Seriously there are cook books and eating plans that are based on ancient wisdom.

This is one that I discovered a while ago (yes I have included a referral link to Amazon UK with this link). It is not always easy to spot them. In some ways that is a good thing as they then go under the radar and are not instantly rejected because they are associated with ancient wisdom.

Included in the dream of Lily’s Place is helping people tap into the riches of ancient wisdom and finding ways of sharing what they have learnt from it. The idea is to help themselves and then prepare them to help others. Some people could do this in such a way that they would provide an income for themselves and their families. Not everyone would be helping people who could pay for the help that they received. They would need to be supported by those that could generate an income so that all those who needed that kind of help could receive it.

There are loads of ideas on how to do this stored up in my head. Even some tools and helps crammed into an overburdened hard drive. It is just waiting to be set free and fly and grow into the system that the king originally wanted it to be. Want to join me on the journey? Get involved in our community. Check out the discussion forums and get on our mailing list so that we can stay in touch.

My challenge

I was challenged today by someone asking me what my why was. In other words, why am I trying to achieve certain things. This is one of those things that I sort of know but rarely put into words simply because I have found it so hard to define. However, I am going to have a go.

After my own journey, I have a major issue of concern that is supporting those who are struggling because the circumstances around them have led to them finding themselves in mental distress. There are two aspects to this one is dealing with the practical issues and the other is dealing with the thought processes that have led to them finding themselves in that situation.

My dream is to help others set up a variety of projects that either bring in enough money to fund this kind of activity or actually provide this kind of help. The vision of Lily’s Place is a self-supporting network of projects that help those in need.

The landscape

What I see around me though is that much of this kind of activity has been taken over by the government who are now finding that it is a struggle to pay for it all. Day by day in the news there are stories of hard-pressed social workers being unable to save children at risk from being killed or hard-pressed workers in the government funded health service (i.e. NHS) struggling to provide more and more help to people on less and less money.

There are those whose benefit has been reduced because of the “reforms” currently taking place. Some of them are falling into rent arrears. Others are borrowing money at exorbitant rates because they have run out of money to buy food for their family. It was never easy managing on benefit but when the money goes down and prices go up it is only getting harder and harder.

A historical perspective

One of the modules I took as part of my degree was Victorian social history. The seeds of the industrial revolution here in the UK were sown at the end of the 18th century. By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 the impact of these changes had changed society dramatically.

The social history of the 19th century is, in large part, the story of the impact on the country of the changes in the way economic activity was organised e.g. in factories rather than cottages. There were huge changes as the population increased at an unprecedented rate and the distribution of the population changed.

All the previous methods of community support were stretched to the limit. Gradually, the reticence of people to allow the government to play a role in supporting the community was worn down. If something went wrong the government would step in with a plan to make things better. They would work with an existing organisation or set up a new one and bit by bit the system of local government in the UK was developed.

By the start of the 20th century, there were more and more examples of the government supporting the community. This included things like old age pensions and more financial provision for schools.

One of the effects of the war in the middle of the 20th century was for people to meet people from outside their own communities. Some were genuinely shocked at how other people lived. This provided an impetus for the greater involvement of the British government in the social and economic life of the country.

Now in the 21st century, many of the things that were once provided by individual or charitable effort are now provided by the government. This includes things like education healthcare and what our Victorian forebears would call poor relief.

Life today

People are scared. They are used to the government taking care of them but the government is struggling to do so. If something happens the cry goes up to one of the government agencies to do something about it. It is as if the government has become their provider and protector.

One of the reasons why the government took over many of those community support activities was that they had enough money to pay for them. They did have money but it was money that they borrowed which has left a problem for future generations. The aim was to provide a good service for everyone not just for those who could pay for it. Today the consequences of borrowing so much money is catching up on them so there is less and less money available to pay for those services.

There are those in the financial arena who say that the cuts have not gone far enough to prevent disaster in the future. There are those in the community who are screaming in pain because of the cuts made so far.

The future

Who knows? One thing is that many are watching what is happening in the USA with great interest. Any economic shocks that hit them will hit the UK as well. Think back to the collapse of Lehman’s bank in 2008. That did not just hit New York. It hit London as well because they had a branch there as well.

There are those who are predicting that the future is not going to be good, especially for the USA. Many are suggesting that economic disaster in terms of hyperinflation is more question of when rather than if. Others are suggesting that the dollar will lose its role as an international currency in the relatively near future.

Some are saying there will be more natural disasters. One Christian teacher is watching the seismic activity in Japan carefully as he believes that there will be a massive volcanic eruption that will kill millions. He says that when God first told him about this the volcano in question was inactive. Today that volcano has been reactivated by an earthquake. Only time will tell if he is right but that particular teacher has a good track record in terms of saying what lies ahead.

Believe it or not, it was an earthquake in Japan that was implicated in a chain of events that led to a long established bank failing in the UK. The activities of a rogue trader left them vulnerable to the economic effects of the earthquake. It is hard to tell sometimes how one thing will lead to another.

What does all this mean for those in need?

I could easily go off a tangent on these ideas rather than just summarizing them like this. If people are screaming in pain in the current economic climate what will happen if it gets worse? Who will help them if the government no longer has the resources to do so?

Some of the solutions being tried at the moment are more like sticking a plaster on a huge wound. Food banks are sprouting up all over the UK to help those in greatest need. Money management programs to help people get out and stay out of debt are multiplying. Job clubs is another tactic being employed set up to help those who are looking for work and so increase their income.

Those are all good answers to the immediate issues faced by many people in some communities. What about longer term ones? Looking for work in an area where there are few jobs is not an easy task. It would be much easier if those who are capable of setting up businesses that would employ others actually did so. There again there are also people who are capable of becoming self-employed and effectively creating a job for themselves.

Back to the ideas that used to work in the past

Britain used be a nation of small cottage based businesses until the large manufactories appeared. Once they were able to produce more goods at a lower cost there was less demand for things produced by the large numbers of people working from home scattered around the countryside.The industrial revolution did not totally extinguish this kind of economic activity but those involved in it became the remnant rather than the majority.

Today those factories have largely departed these shores. There simply are not the jobs in manufacturing that there once were and yet there are many people for whom that is the only way of earning a living that they have known. They do not have the practical skills or the soft skills required to set up a business or even create a job for themselves.

What is worse is that the changes brought about by the 2012 Welfare Reform Act that are due to be implemented between now and April 2015 will encourage many to stop trying to do what they are already doing to earn money from selling their products and services. They are the ones who now survive because the government gives them gives them money to supplement what they earn from being in business. If the money the government gives them is stopped they may find themselves better off financially if they abandon their efforts at earning money and declare themselves as being unemployed.

The way forward

The evidence suggests that in hard times it is those who can buy and sell stuff, whether goods or services, who manage to thrive when others are struggling to survive. It does not matter if it was the depression in the 1930s or perestroika in the 1980s those who rise up to the top are the business owners. Not only that but one of the most persecuted people groups in the world, the Jewish community, have thrived financially for centuries because of their business activities.

Put the idea of the increased need for practical skills together with less possibility of learning them from friends and family who have already travelled that road and it is obvious that there is a problem. What is worse is that there are those who say that the education system is designed to train people to become good employees. Many of those out of work have been educated in such a way that they make good factory hands but don’t have a good enough business brain to become self-employed never mind build a business to the stage of employing others. That is not to say that they cannot learn the different way of thinking that is seen amongst business owners just that they have not learnt it yet.

Many will say it is easy you do this, this and this and by the way, it is so easy that I have not bothered to try to do it myself because I want to stay in a job. it is comfortable and safe being paid to work for others. Some know the theory but have not put it into practice. How many people who are employed as business coaches or who teach business start-up courses have ever actually set up and run a business of their own? In my experience very few. I wonder if there any truth in the saying about those who can do something actually do it but those who can’t end up teaching others how to do it? Mercifully there are some people who have set up businesses as business coaches who know how to put the theory into practice.

Problem is many first time businesses fail. It is reckoned by some that over 90% of people fail within 5 years. Some manage to pick themselves up and start again but not all. Many well-known entrepreneurs did not succeed on their first attempt. They took 3 or 4 attempts before they managed to start a business and keep it going.

My experience

I have thought about and tried setting up a business and I know that it is not easy. I have learnt that there is a quite different way of thinking between working for others and working for yourself. Stepping out and making decisions is quite different from complying with the choices that others have made.

That different way of thinking is also related to the value we place on ourselves and how we interpret the world around us. If we believe we have what it takes to be a business leader then we will be able to become one. If we blame business owners for all the ills in the world then there is no way that we will ever want to become one.

I know the journey from being constantly told that I was not competent enough to reach the expectations of someone through escaping from their sphere of influence to becoming a new woman with a new life. That is why I want to help people who are in such mental distress that they want a new life.

I know the journey from being an employee to a business owner and the changes in thinking that are needed to make this happen. Some are changes in the way that I needed to think about myself and others are the way I think about what I do.

Putting my dream into practice

There are so many different things that people in mental distress need. They need helping learning practical skills. Some may need help improving their general education or more academic skills. They need practical help with things like setting up home, repairing and maintaining their home. In fact, the needs are overwhelming although sometimes the needs of one group can be met by helping another group. An example of this is when those who need practice with practical skills do so while they are helping others in need.

A big challenge has been overcoming the attitude that I should be in quarantine to protect other people. When you are trying to do something where you need to develop relationships this is a serious disadvantage. In some ways overcoming this is proof of the thought changing/controlling methods I have been using.

Other issues

Personally, I think that the biggest issue is that those who were once providers of education, healthcare and helping the poor have retreated from that role. They have lost their confidence and are wondering if they could ever do what is needed to support the community. These days when you say that they should be doing so there are two responses. Those on the outside are fearful that they would be as incapable now as they were when the government took over from them. Those on the inside say it is not our role anymore we will leave it to the government.

They have stopped believing they are capable financially and practically. This is compounded by many within the church that used to support the community making a virtue out of not having any money. Mention the idea to church people that they should start to learn to make money they are horrified. (Personally, I think that this would make a lot of sense as then they would be better able to lead other people towards making money for themselves rather than leaving them dependent upon benefits.)

Some challenge

It is a huge challenge and every time I see something I wonder how earth I could make progress on that issue. I have some ideas but only time will tell what will actually work.

How can not having a job can lead to entrapment?

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For the past 100 years or so we have managed to become more and more dependent upon the government. If something goes wrong people look to the government to help them.

If they cannot find a job then the government is expected to do something to create more jobs.
If they have no income because there are no jobs then the government is expected to make sure that they have enough to stop them starving and to keep a roof over their heads.
If they are looking for a job they expect to find one with the help of a government office like the Jobcentre or expect government help to retrain for a different job.
If they want to set up a business they expect the government to provide training to help them and possibly even a start up grant.

In fact, for many people, if the government did not provide this kind of help they would not know what to do to help themselves.

The stranglehold may get broken

The problem is that to do all these things takes money. We all know that governments have two ways of raising money i.e. from taxes and by borrowing. Raising money from taxes makes a government unpopular as no one likes paying taxes.

Most people and businesses try and do all they can to pay as little tax as they can. Instead, they borrow money but one day that money has to be paid back. A government is no different from an individual who has borrowed money again and again only to find eventually they cannot borrow any more.

Once the lenders start screaming at them. They end up having to make special arrangements to repay their debts and to do this they either have to increase their income or decrease their spending. Governments are not immune from that basic reality. That is why the government is trying to reduce its spending and to borrow less.

What happens if (or when) it does break

The scary thing is what happens when people have become dependent upon the government for so much and the government is no longer able to provide for their needs. They get angry.

They expected to be taken care of and the help they expected just was not there. That is when lawlessness becomes a problem. Those who have worked in disaster situations among people who expect the government to help them only to find that their resources are so stretched that they cannot do it have seen this kind of rioting and violence at first hand.

I do not want to live in a world like this. I don’t think it is good for anyone especially those who are angry. Those who are angry and have the strength to fight could make life unpleasant for everyone else. Angry people, even me when I have been angry, make mistakes and hurt others.

One alternative

One of the tactics that people have used to survive has been to run their own business. I can hear people cringing now.

It takes money to set up a business, Well it does if you start big rather than start with a tiny seed and grow it to a full plant. There are a number of ideas on how to start a micro business in Making Money in the Parlour: Using the best room in the house to make money in a legal decent and honest way. Which we have published on Smashwords.

It takes personal strength to set up a business true but then it takes that kind of strength to fight the government for what you believe are your rights. Why not use that strength constructively rather than destructively.

We are trying but I just hope we are not too late

A new law is shutting down little businesses – help them stay alive

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If this sounds mad or crazy you might well be right. But you are unlikely to be as mad and even downright angry as those who run small online businesses.

You see many thousands of people have set up small businesses to supplement their income. Nothing fancy just little money making projects like those envisioned by the Money Making Parlour website that we were going to invest more time and effort in developing during 2015.

In November 2014 a bomb was dropped on them. It was suddenly realised that the changes in the VAT regulations that were due to come into force a few weeks later would have a severe impact on them.

We really did not see it coming

Many of us in the UK had an inkling that things were going to change but for OTHER people, surely we were too small to be affected. We were wrong. No one was too small. Sell a single product for a few pence to someone in one of the 28 countries in the European Union after the clock struck midnight and the New Year started you had to collect VAT on it.

Well it is difficult to charge 20% VAT on a product that is less than 5p. But sell an image or a knitting pattern or a variety of other online products to a buyer in the EU and the law says that starting from 1st January 2015 the seller has to collect VAT and give it to the tax authorities in the country where the buyer lives.

What is worse that 20% rate I mentioned is only the UK rate. Each of the 28 countries has its own VAT system that divides products up into different categories and that has different VAT rates. So the same product might need to have anything from 17% to 27% added to it. Any whole number that is from 17 to 27 but not 26 for some reason.

What do we have to do?

Work out where a buyer is before they actually buy something so that the right amount of tax can be collected from them. In effect this means having 11 different sales pages for a product. Well maybe more but this is taken from one particular example product I found online. One would show the price without VAT and the other 10 would show the price using 1 of the 10 possible rates of VAT. Gulp!

Most small business websites are incapable of this kind of mindreading ability. They could, with some help, work out where someone was after they bought something. Knowing where they were beforehand is far more difficult to work out, if it is even possible.

Then they have to gather enough information about everyone who buys something from them to keep the tax man happy. Tricky one that as they can be very precise about what they will accept and what they won’t.

Then every three months they need to use that information to submit quarterly reports about how much VAT was paid and where the buyer lives. So you might sell a 5p product and have to charge 1p VAT and spend a few hours dealing with the VAT. BTW this tax collecting lark is all unpaid work.

On top of all that they need to keep that information for 10 years so that the taxman can come and have a nose around and check everything has been done correctly. Of course, it has to be stored in such a way that it stays accessible to the right people when needed regardless of technology updates. And kept safe from prying eyes who might want to use it for malicious purposes.

How do we do all that?

To be frank God only knows! Seriously!

Some say why not just stop selling things to those in the EU. This has been happening and the cartoon below is a response to those who have taken that option. Being on the receiving end of such behaviour I know how uncomfortable this leaves a customer. Yes, you are not rejecting someone for who they are, but for what their government is doing, but it is still rejection.

Others say find a third party marketplace or sales platform who will either gather the information you need or even take over the whole responsibility for dealing with VAT for you. To be honest this is far easier said than done.

Some of these third party providers have looked at the work they would need to do and said sorry we do not want to get involved in this. It is too much work. We would rather discourage people from selling things to people in the EU than do all that it takes to comply with the law.

Thankfully a handful have tried to make it possible for those in the EU to comply with the law. Some do all the work themselves and others do part of it and leave the seller to complete the rest. The problem is finding a third party supplier who does not charge the earth and who will enable you to make the best use of what you have already done.

There is a silver lining

It is surprising how many new marketplaces or sales platforms I have discovered as a result of working through this situation. I have looked at some I had never heard of before and realised I had missed out on some that were worth using.

It is interesting to see how different organisations have responded. Some have done so quickly after customers asked for help. Others have developed selective deafness. Those who have been helpful have definitely gone up in many people’s estimation.

At least those who sell digital products in the EU will be ahead of the pack. There are rumours of other countries doing the same thing i.e. expecting sellers from overseas to act as unpaid tax collectors for them. There are rumours that the same change in the way VAT is collected will be applied to physical products in 2016 so everyone who sells something to someone in the EU will be impacted. By the time those future changes come into those affected by these changes will be in a better position to cope with them and to help others cope with them.

In the meantime, it seems that darkness is encroaching upon us

Remember that cartoon I included earlier, do you know what it reminded me of? The horrors of protectionism of the 1930s. A time when various governments tried to protect their own economies using customs duties or import duties i.e. a form of taxation on things that moved from one country to another.

Another thing I thought of from the same period was how certain groups were demonised and seen to be in need of special attention. The 1930s was the era of eugenics when many were talking about cleaning up the population by stopping certain bloodlines. Often this involved surgery to stop reproduction but this was only the forerunner of the horrors of Auschwitz in the 1940s. It started as an excusable drip by drip effect but ended up in a torrent of virtually inexcusable behaviour.

Why this association? The reason given for this taxation change was that some of the big companies needed to be brought to heel. It did not matter that they had followed what was sensible business advice, some of which seems to have actually come from sources within the EU itself. They were made to look like the bad guys and they needed controlling.

Umm wasn’t that exactly what happened to both disabled people and the Jews in the 1930s and 40s. Made to look bad and then special measures taken against them. Things happened to them that we now look back at with horror. This scares me as who knows where this demonisation of business will take us.

Moving forwards a bit, at the end of the 1980s the old men of the church used to tell me that there would come a time when buying and selling would become harder because of the amount of control it was subjected to. They are dead now but I can almost hear them say I told you this would happen.

The idea of killing off some of the little guys and gals and directing those who are left to go through a limited number of channels looks suspiciously like the early stages of this kind of process. It looks like the explainable even excusable drip by drip process happening again and who knows what the torrent will look like in the future?

How do we stay alive and help others stay alive despite the darkness?

It is tough. In fact looking at the whole VAT scenario is very depressing. It is squeezing the life out of many micro-businesses.

Some are doing things in a different way so that they can survive for a bit longer.
Some are have not been able to find a way forwards. Some have stopped trading completely or just selling certain products.
Some are going to sleep for a while and expecting to wake up when the darkness has eased a bit and the way forwards seems more obvious.
Some are taking on the challenge of trying to comply with the law.
There are even some who have tried explaining the problems to those administering the new laws in an attempt to lessen the impact and have made life easier for everyone as a result. People like the team at E U VAT Action

There is a fighting spirit in many business owners that will help them overcome in the end but they need your support. Those who run them need a friendly shoulder to cry on and once they have done that they need strong supporters beside them to help them stand tall again. Surely you can do that can’t you!

PS If you don’t know anyone personally who is affected just continue to buy the knitting patterns and online courses and ebooks that you used to enjoy and support them that way.

Update 2017

We are now going through all the trauma of Brexit. No one knows what on earth how it is all going to work out in the end. Yet as this is going on the finance ministers of Europe are working on a plan to make this law less damaging to tiny businesses. The hope is that these new regulations will make it possible to operate a small business.

A business helps you help others

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A business can be a means whereby you help others. What sort of needs could it meet?

People need jobs and businesses provide jobs. Provide a job that someone can do and you will be able to help them turn their life around. There are large numbers of people who cannot find a job that they can do because of family responsibilities or disability issues or health issues. Some struggle to find work because of their criminal background. Now if you could find a way to offer people like that work that they could do then that would be a blessing to them.
People need the goods and services provided by businesses. Imagine if no one had a farm that sold milk or a plant that bottled it or a system to distribute it. Without businesses like these, we would be in a sorry state. A business cannot survive without customers and customers have needs.
Communities need renewing and regenerating and the feel good factor from people being able to find jobs can be a great help achieving those kinds of aims.