Expert advice for small business owners, from something that won't just agree
You make the decisions about prices, suppliers, tax and who to hire, mostly on your own. Clearspace is an expert you put them to before you act. It says so when it thinks one is wrong, with the working shown, and it says when its own advice wouldn't hold.
“I'm starting a business. Logo's done. What's the best way to push it?”
Illustrative example, not a real account.
Before how to promote it, Clearspace works out who it's for, with you. It says something useful, then asks one question. If the answer is "everyone", it asks you to start with one real person you could name. It only agrees once there is something real behind the idea, such as a person already paying to fix the problem, and it says why.
If you don't know who else would buy, say so. The expert works it out with you from what it knows, and says that is where it came from. Then it offers to write it down: a Who it's for page in your workspace, where each part says whether you said it, we estimated it, or it is still a guess.
When this wouldn't hold
What comes out is a hypothesis about who might buy, not proof that anyone will. Only people paying you shows that, which is why the page keeps what is still a guess apart and ends on the cheapest way to test it. The groups come from a model that can be wrong about a market it knows little about, so treat them as something to check.
“My candles cost £4 to make, so I'll charge £5. I don't want to seem greedy.”
Illustrative example, not a real account.
Pricing close to cost feels safe and quietly costs you. At £5 a candle you keep £1, so making £120 takes 120 sales. At £8 you keep £4 and need 30.
The first price is a test, not a verdict. Try the higher one, see who still buys, and adjust from what actually happens.
When this wouldn't hold
It assumes you would sell about the same number at either price. If £8 loses every customer, the sum stops mattering, which is why it is a test and not a rule. Your time is a cost too: if each candle takes an hour to make, £4 of materials is not the whole of it.
“The supplier will do 500 candles at £2 or 100 at £3. The 500's the better price.”
Illustrative example, not a real account.
500 at £2 is £1,000 out. 100 at £3 is £300. The bigger order is cheaper per candle only on the ones you sell. Buying 100 first costs £1 more each, and tells you whether you need the rest.
A bulk price is a saving on what sells and a loss on what doesn't.
When this wouldn't hold
If the supplier's price is about to rise, or the small order cannot be repeated quickly, the bigger batch may be worth the risk. Stock that keeps, like candles, is safer to over-buy than stock that does not.
“I'm only putting prices up 3%, so nobody leaves.”
Illustrative example, not a real account.
A cautious rise feels safe. What decides whether it is too cautious is how many customers you could lose before the rise stops paying. That is the rise divided by your margin plus the rise: for 10% at a 30% margin, 10 ÷ 40, so a quarter of your customers. A 3% rise lifts the profit on each sale by a tenth. A 10% rise lifts it by a third.
Clearspace's business mentor starts from your own margin, so it asks for it if you haven't said. Then it shows the break-even, so the worry becomes a number you can look at.
When this wouldn't hold
It works to gross margin (the price minus what each sale costs you to deliver) and assumes those costs stay the same. If your customers buy on price alone, or have an almost identical alternative nearby, you may lose more than the sum allows for. It tells you where the line is, not whether your customers will cross it.
“I've got until April before I need to register for VAT.”
VAT is not counted by tax year. It is counted on your taxable turnover for the last 12 months, checked at the end of every month. You must register if that goes over £90,000, or if you expect it to go over in the next 30 days alone.
Once you've gone over, you have 30 days from the end of that month to register. Taking on a big job part-way through the year can put the last 12 months over the line well before the year is out.
When this wouldn't hold
Thresholds move at Budgets: £90,000 is the figure checked on the date below. If most of your customers are VAT-registered businesses, registering costs them nothing, because they can reclaim it. If you sell to the public, registering means charging 20% more or keeping less. This is the rule, not advice on your case: HMRC and your accountant settle that.
“I add 30% to what things cost me, so I'm making 30%.”
Mark-up is what you add to your cost. Margin is what you keep of the price. Add 30% to a cost of £70 and the price is £91, of which you keep £21: a margin of 23%. To keep 30% of the price, add 43% to the cost. £70 becomes £100, and you keep £30.
The two get mixed up because they sound alike, and a price list built on the wrong one is wrong on every line.
When this wouldn't hold
If you price to what the market will pay, the mark-up is an outcome and not a rule. And a margin has to cover your overheads and your own time as well as the cost of what you sell: this tells you what the percentage on the price is, not whether it is enough.
Who answers
- Business mentor: Whether this is worth doing at all, and what it costs you to do it.
- Marketing: How people find you, why they choose you, and who you're actually for.
- Leadership & operations: Whether you can actually deliver this, and keep delivering it.
Keep going
- Why chatbots agree with everything you say A guide.
- VAT threshold checker Twelve months of turnover in, and where you stand against the £90,000 rolling test.
- Invoice generator Line items, VAT, terms and a total. Print it or save it as a PDF.