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When cash gets tight, it can be hard to tell whether your business is facing a short term problem or something more serious. It can be even harder to ask for help. Justin Turner joins insolvency practitioner Iain Nairn of Leonard Curtis for a frank conversation about business debt, cash flow and the choices available to UK business owners. Justin shares his own experience of discovering £82,000 of negative equity in his business during the credit crunch. Looking back, he asks whether speaking to someone sooner could have changed his approach. In this episode: • The difference between cash flow and balance sheet insolvency • Warning signs worth discussing with your accountant • What an insolvency practitioner can explain at an early stage • Limited liability, dividends and payments to connected people • HMRC arrears and Time to Pay arrangements • The main routes through serious business debt • Why personal guarantees and further borrowing need careful thought • The fear and pride that can delay asking for help The central lesson: seeking advice early can give you more time to understand your options. You do not need to have all the answers before starting that conversation. Guest: Iain Nairn, insolvency practitioner at Leonard Curtis. Find out more: https://www.leonardcurtis.co.uk/ Hosted by Justin Turner. AskJT brings you practical business education to help you make clearer, more confident decisions. Follow AskJT for more conversations about business, finance and the lessons owners learn along the way.

After two months off, Justin's back. And he's not here to add to the noise. If you've searched Making Tax Digital on YouTube recently, you'll have seen the same thing everywhere — penalties, nightmares, HMRC crackdowns. Justin spent those three months writing a book about MTD instead. It hit the Top 100 finance books in the UK. Which told him something: people aren't looking for more panic. They're looking for clarity. This episode is that clarity. Making Tax Digital Without the Panic is available now. It's not just a book — scan the QR code inside and you get a setup walkthrough, a landlord incorporation fact sheet, and live updates as HMRC clarifies the rules. Top 100 finance books in the UK on Amazon. Get it here: https://amzn.eu/d/0fbxo9Ss

If you want to modernise your business systems, marketing and onboarding, learn more about working with me at askjt.co.uk.

How do you produce YouTube videos, podcasts, blogs, social posts and PDFs without a marketing team? In this episode, JT takes you behind the scenes of his exact AI and automation setup. Justin explains how one core idea each week becomes a full content system that runs quietly in the background.

You’ll learn:

- Why one message in many formats beats constant new ideas
- How JT scripts videos faster using voice notes and AI
- How Riverside turns one recording into video, audio, shorts and text
- How ChatGPT helps with scripts, titles, thumbnails and even code
- How Zapier automates podcast and YouTube promotion to LinkedIn
- How JT creates high quality PDFs using ChatGPT and Gamma
- Why automation is the difference between consistency and burnout

This episode isn’t about content creation. It’s about system design. And how small business owners can use modern tools to look far bigger than they really are. 

This week I was invited to a student trade show at Northumbria University. I expected a few posters and half-formed ideas. I walked out seeing something much bigger. The problems student entrepreneurs face on day one are the same problems small business owners face ten years later. And the good news is, most of them are avoidable. In this episode I share the real startup lessons that came out of the room, including:

• Why your next sale almost always comes from someone who has already bought from you
• Why early-stage founders waste time and money on £70k app builds
• How tools like Bolt.new, Replit and AI help you build prototypes fast
• Why you need people who challenge your assumptions
• How universities are full of resources most founders never use
• What Lean Startup really means in the real world • Why mentoring can save you from expensive mistakes
• The one trait I saw that almost always predicts who will succeed

There’s a hidden crossover between academia and business that most people miss. When you learn how to use it, you get shortcuts that others never see.

You finish a job, send the invoice, and the client never gets it. You resend it, and it lands in spam. It’s annoying, but it’s also costing small businesses thousands every year. In this episode, Justin Turner explains why it’s not your email system that’s broken — it’s your DNS. He breaks down what DNS actually is (in simple terms), how it links to your website and email, and why missing settings like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC could be quietly damaging your reputation and cash flow. Justin also shares how to take control of your domain, the role of Cloudflare as a modern business tool, and what questions to ask your IT or web provider today.
If you're interested in modernising your business, check out my website - www.askjt.co.uk.

This week I share the automation that changed my accountancy firm. It’s simple, repeatable and it freed us from hours of admin. One week Zapier told me we’d automated 360 tasks, and Mailchimp added another 40 emails. Four hundred actions done for us. No mistakes. No prompts. No stress. In this episode I explain why automation beats AI for repeatable work, how it fits into your business, and how you can build the systems you need to modernise your own operations.

Links and resources:

- Download the onboarding Zap guide here: askjt.co.uk/zap

- Apply for a Modernisation Diagnostic: askjt.co.uk/modernisation-diagnostic

Most Budget breakdowns tell you what changed. This episode tells you what to do about it. JT explains how the 2024 and 2025 Budgets quietly combine into one long rolling tax plan that hits small business owners between now and 2031. You’ll learn the real impact on wages, payroll, dividend tax, rental income, pensions, and the new salary sacrifice cap coming in 2029. More importantly, you’ll get practical steps to protect your income, plan ahead, and avoid getting caught by stealth taxes. In this episode:

The big picture — why 2024 and 2025 form one long tax plan Employer NI, wage rises, and what small firms must do in 2025/26 Director pay planning ahead of the April 2026 dividend tax rise Salary sacrifice changes from 2029 and why they matter The new pension & inheritance tax issue coming in 2027 Dividend, savings, and rental tax rises through 2026–2027 Capital allowance changes from January 2026 Hidden updates: PAYE changes, MTD soft landing, EV mileage rules and JT’s five-point action plan for small business owners

Useful links AskJT Modernisation Diagnostic: https://www.askjt.co.uk/modernisation-diagnostic

Struggling to pay your tax bill? You’re not alone. In 2010, I owed HMRC £20,000 and even had a debt officer at my door. In this episode, I share the five steps you must take right now if you can’t pay your tax bill. These strategies will help you stop penalties, protect your business, and give you the breathing space you need. We’ll cover: 1️⃣ How to talk to HMRC the right way 2️⃣ Why filing early matters — even if you can’t pay 3️⃣ When finance makes sense 4️⃣ Identifying the root causes behind tax problems 5️⃣ Tax planning so it never happens again If you’re losing sleep over your tax bill, this episode will help you take back control. 🔔 Subscribe to AskJT for more plain-English advice on small business, tax, and finance.

If you’re working six days a week and still wondering where the money’s gone, this episode is for you. Justin shares the story of a tradesman who was ready to give up — working every day, quoting on weekends, and still earning less than he would as an employee. But the problem wasn’t effort. It was the system. This isn’t just for tradespeople — it’s for anyone who’s tired of being busy but broke. If you want to earn more without adding hours, this episode will help you rebuild your business around smarter systems, not more effort.

Year-end doesn’t have to be chaos. In this episode, Justin breaks down 7 practical year-end checks that help UK small business owners save tax, free up cash, and stay in control before the books close. From pensions and tax forecasting to director’s loans, capital spending, and dividends — you’ll learn exactly what to review, when to act, and how to walk into next year stress-free. If you’ve ever had that last-minute panic call with your accountant, this one’s for you.