Business Garage Local (From The Oxford Times)

Business Garage Local

3:56pm Wednesday 14th July 2010 in

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How does someone running a small business find time to actually do the work they set out to do in the first place? Such are the demands of administration, marketing, personnel, book keeping and a myriad of other annoying distractions that it is sometimes a wonder that anything else gets done at all.

The answer, of course, is outsourcing. Getting someone else to help manage the nuts and bolts, thus freeing you up to make money, to realise your idea.

Now a company with the intriguing name Business Garage Local has started up in Harwell, specifically to provide exactly what busy entrepreneurs need, ranging from human resources to public relations, accountancy to relocation, bookkeeping to legal support, and much more — including simply providing advice at the end of a telephone in the shape of someone to bounce ideas off.

Director of Business Garage Local, Joanne Bunting, explained that the idea for the business grew out of the successful PR and marketing company Loud Group, which employs about 30 people and is based in the same building.

She said: “This is a new arm of the business, and it now employs five people.

“It came into being because we noticed — and I have worked for Loud for ten years — that there is a demand for every kind of business service.”

She added: “Last year in particular many of our clients were forced to let some key people go in the recession. Now they need those people’s skills again.”

And on the other side of the coin, she suggests that some of those people laid off will have redundancy money in their pockets and ideas for new businesses in their heads — but will need the skills of others for dealing with such things as, for example, health and safety issues.

Indeed, one of the first small businesses to become a customer of Business Garage Local, which started trading in June this year, needed help with health and safety. Its directors were well aware that fines for ignoring the rules can be huge.

But how can Business Garage Local provide the necessary expertise?

Ms Bunting said: “We have a lot of skills and experience in-house here, but we also have other experts who we can call upon.”

Prices for the services offered start at £25 an hour, and there are discounts for people signing up to five or more hours a month.

Ms Bunting said: “We are pleased with the way things have gone in the first month. But we are prepared to adapt and be flexible according to demand — which we are monitoring all the time.”

o Contact: Business Garage Local, 01235 433099.

Web: www.businessgaragelocal.com