Ok here is the 2014 Calendar Template in EPS, PDF and Illustrator AI format.  You can find the 2013 and 2015 templates by clicking the links.

I’ve decided to build a bit of a resources section that contains all the files that we tend to use a lot.  I’ll start off with a 2013 calendar template that can be used to create calendar mouse mats, calendar deskpads and believe it or not, actual calendars!

I’ve got the 2014 Calendar Template and the 2015 Calendar Template to post tomorrow.

So you’ve seen it everywhere.

The drive to become eco-friendly.

More and more businesses are joining the eco-friendly drive and its sometimes hard to see how an office can do this.

But small changes make the difference.

So why become eco-friendly?

So your business is all set up selling your product and you have a great website set up which enables online buying / pricing but should you also have physical printed catalogues too?

Many would say no.  We are meant to be working towards a paperless society, reducing our carbon footprint and saving the trees.

But there are advantages to being able to give out a printed catalogue.

Having worked for a charity before, I’ve written my fair share of funding bids.

And along with that I’ve made my fair share of mistakes and learnt from these.

Funders are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by charities and third sector organisations wanting funding.

So being able to submit a successful application is difficult and you will meet some tough competition.

Which is why you need to be able to write something that really makes the funder want to provide you with the funding and makes them believe in you as a charity.

Below are some top tips for writing an effective funding bid.

The internet is becoming increasingly used for sales as well as for information. 

The internet has revolutionised the way we buy and sell and is rapidly becoming the most used method for transactions.

Traditionally a salesperson was needed for most businesses. 

Businesses needed that face of the company, someone who is out there selling and getting people to buy the product or service.

The Euro is in crisis, England is in a recession, so what are Bristol traders doing about this? Creating their own currency.

Businesses local in Bristol have started trading in Bristol Pounds, which has been set up as an online currency as well.

By having their own currency, Bristol is encouraging money circulation within Bristol itself.

If someone walks into a shop and pays for something in Bristol Pounds, they cannot go and pay a national supplier using this as it won’t be accepted. Instead they will have to use it to pay local suppliers or pay staff.

By doing this they are keeping money circulating within Bristol and promoting the use of local traders and suppliers.

I’ve read various posts across the internet with reasons as to why you should or should not outline fonts when sending artwork to printers or clients for approval.  The basic answer from myself is that yes you should outline your fonts.

Why Do We Need Fonts Outlining?

When we open artwork on our systems here we need to have the same fonts in our font library that you have used in your document in order to open the file.  If we don’t have the font then Illustrator will give us a popup warning telling us which fonts are missing, and it will reset the font to the default system font.

Generally we will then do a brief search on the internet to see if this is a non commercial and freely available font.

If it is then we will download it and reopen your file.   Happy Days problem solved!

Feedback is important because it gives you an idea what your customers think of you.  Depending on the type of feedback you get will depend on how accurate this is but in most cases you are likely to get a clearer view of how you are doing.

Without is you are just driving blond – you are just selling and not finding out what peoples thought are.  You will soon find yourself with not only a bad reputation, but only with a limited number of new sales and no repeat business which is what you are aiming to build.

But it isn’t just about gaining the feedback its about using it to become more efficient, using it to change and develop as a business and being able to take negative criticism and turn it into a positive.

So your business is booming, your managing to keep yourself well and truly afloat during the recession but you’ve now got to make the decision about taking on new members of staff.

For small businesses this is often a tricky task – there are so many things to consider.

What do you need?

Businesses often focus on their sales, they will employ more and more sales staff, increase their sales in line with this but at the same time not have the HR procedures that govern the personnel that are employed.

It’s just as important to have these functions in place when expanding than it is to keep employing sales staff.