If you have a start-up business or have drifted into tutoring without much of a plan, then today's podcast is the one for you. Join Neil and discover the three business partnership structures which can help keep you safe and alert to pitfalls, allow you to stay on the right side of the law and most importantly, help you to keep the taxman happy.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• An ordinary partnership is a basic business structure. It is owned by two or more partners, you share the profits and have joint liability for the business. There is no need to register with Companies House but you must register with HMRC.
• An advisory is to draw up a partnership agreement so that everyone knows the rules, who does what, gets paid what and when things should happen.
• A limited partnership is not a separate legal entity but is a relationship between partners. There are two types of partners, limited and general. You must register the business with Companies House, have a business address, register the business for self-assessment with HMRC and act for the business if it’s wound up and dissolved.
• A Limited Liability Partnership is the most demanding partnership structure. You can set up this type of business with two or more members, each partner pays tax on their share of profits.
• In a limited liability partnership you will need to choose a name, have a registered address, register with Companies House and have an LLP agreement.
• You should make an LLP agreement with any other members as part of setting up your LLP. This sets out how the LLP will be run, including how profits are shared among members, who need to agree on decisions, members responsibilities and how members can join or leave the LLP. A solicitor can help you prepare an agreement or you can write your own.

BEST MOMENTS

“here’s the skinny on partnership business”

“This helps avoid arguments later.”

“Quite a lot more than an ordinary partnership, but with some significant advantages, too.”

“Designated members have more responsibilities than ordinary members.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
• Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

Discover today how you can ever so simply register as a sole trader and get your tutoring business up and running. Join Neil as he discusses the importance of registering and paying your taxes, what business expenses you can claim back and the importance of having a separate business bank account. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Becoming a Sole Trader is a simple process. There is no separation between you and your venture. You are fully liable, the business is an extension of you. Therefore, the business liabilities are yours and the profits are all yours to keep. 
• Open a separate personal bank account. You mustn’t mix business money and your own money. It will confuse you and be very hard to untangle and account for. Tell HMRC ASAP because you’ll need to register for self-assessment and declare your earnings.
• Find out about Allowances for your business, these can include; Home use; Clothing; Mileage and use of your car; Equipment (laptops, stationery, guitars, software needed for work, etc) and Travel costs.
• Remember, you only pay tax on profits, not turnover. Turnover is the money that comes in – profit is what’s left after your costs have been paid. 
• If you have a job, any sole trader losses can be offset against your PAYE income – new businesses often lose money for a few years as a business is built up and startup costs consume more than you have coming in. You could therefore claim a tax refund, because a sole trader loss can be offset, leaving the Nett income of day job minus Sole Trader losses as taxable income.

BEST MOMENTS 

“Don’t piss off Johnny taxman – he’s a Goliath - armed to the teeth and backed up by a battalion of highly qualified and relentless people who will bury you.” 

“You might be surprised how much you can claim against your earnings”

“If you’ve drifted into tutoring, don’t neglect to tell HMRC and make sure you claim every allowance you can.” 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
• Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

The comfort zone can be alluring and comfortable, however staying within your comfort zone comes with many limitations. Join Neil today as how you can flourish, so long as you escape the comfort trap. Discover how you can be an example of possibility to your students, how to escape your comfort zone and why you should not waste your energy on menial things.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The comfort zone is popular and alluring. However, it is distracting and impoverishing. Staying in your comfort zone will do nothing for you, it doesn’t serve you and it removes all possibility of doing something new, interesting and surprising.
• Don’t buy it, don’t waste your precious energy on the trivia of homes, cars and TV. These are the things that will pull you away from new challenges.
• We’ve been fed this idea that sitting back and chilling out is The Dream and that we should aspire to be pampered and live an “easy life”. You need a reason to get out of bed in the morning, to square up to life and say “bring it on, I’ve got this!”. Can you Imagine a life of ease and comfort, a life without challenge or risk and , as a result , devoid of growth and fulfilment?
• You’re there to teach and help your students and clients, and the very best way to do that is to be an example of possibility. And that example is individual and unique to each one of us, to every member of our Tribes. Within your fields, you are the leaders of our tribes.
• If you find yourself in the comfort trap, do something about it. Get out of your comfort zone and go do something that makes you feel a little bit anxious. Sign up for a challenge, step away from the TV and do something, pick up your guitar, do anything that moves you in the right direction.

BEST MOMENTS

“it isn’t about the money: it’s about The Challenge and staying out of my comfort zone.”

“Gimme a challenge, tell me I can’t do something and I’ll prove you wrong.”

“If a lot of people do something, that doesn’t make it right.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
  • Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

Discover today how you can design your own failure, which can help you spot your route to success. Join Neil as he shares a fool proof way to stop yourself from feeling overworked and underpaid. By identifying areas in your life you are failing in such as time management, passive income streams and lack of students you can flip your life around and get back on the road to success. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• It is great to plan things ahead whether that be daily, monthly, yearly or five yearly. Planning gives you a mindset of possibility and helps provide milestones to identify progression.
• If you are struggling to fit things into your days and are stuck trading your time for money, there are systems that can help you. Write down the system that produces lack of wealth, overwork and frustration in the center of a piece of paper. Things such as: not having long term goals; not having a strategic plan and making sure you get lost in the little things.
• Identify your time management issues. Things such as not planning, letting your business run you and having no routine can affect the way you feel and frustrations and overwhelm can occur. 
• Identify how you make your money, do you have passive income streams? Write down how you are not making money from investment or creating products such as podcasts or books. Even things such as hoarding and not selling your old items on Ebay can help you identify potential areas for improvement. 
• Once everything is written down, you are able to see what is going on, or not and you are able to identify areas of your life which need addressing. Think on paper and design a system that guarantees failure, so you know how you can succeed. 

BEST MOMENTS 

“I love planning.”

“I love to disrupt the status quo.”

“A mind map of things not to do.” 

“Drag your bullshit out into the open and slaughter it.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
• Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

Discover the sleeker, faster, less demanding and free operating system ready to rival Windows. Join Neil as he discusses the advantages Linux, the open source operating system that outperforms Windows in more ways than one from its cost efficiency to its reliability is Linux beginning to take over?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Linux is the open source OS that outperforms Windows, runs on low-spec machines, and never ruins your day with another infuriating auto-update.The most obvious advantage is that Linux is free whereas Windows is not.  Windows license cost is different for both desktop and server versions.  In the case of Linux OS either it can be desktop or server and still costs nothing.
• Windows OS is one of the simplest desktop OS available today.  Its graphical user-friendliness is exceptional – but Linux distros like Ubuntu, Elementary OS, Linux Mint, etc. are catching up, aiming to make the transition from Windows to Linux smooth and easy.
• Linux systems consume fewer system resources (RAM, disk space, etc.) when compared to Windows. Many Hardware vendors have realized the popularity of Linux and have started making Linux compliant hardware/drivers. But the big thing is this: when running older hardware, Windows is slower than the leaner, slicker Linux. This is why you might want to Keep your old PC and run it on Linux
• Linux is everywhere. From the smallest device to the largest supercomputer, Linux is everywhere. It can be a car, router, phone, medical devices, plane, TV, satellite, watch, or school tablet, Linux will be there. It’s used so much because it works better than anything else – chances are it’ll work for you and your soon-to-be-obsolete machines too.

BEST MOMENTS

“The most obvious advantage is that Linux is free whereas Windows is not”

“We’ve covered Windows updates before on the show – and the chaos they can inflict!”

“Geek alert,  Linux allows a user to control every aspect of the operating system.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
  • Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

A few short weeks ago Microsoft announced the release of its new Windows version and at first, everything seemed wonderful! Join Neil today as he discusses the pros and cons of the new Windows 11 platform and whether it's a benefit to you or not. Neil discusses how Windows 11 claims it will enhance your productivity, the new features of the platform such as being able to resume what you were doing after an interruption and why your computer may not like the new update. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• When Microsoft announced the advent of its new version of Windows on June 24, 2021, it seemed fairly innocuous. The interface will be beautiful, the Microsoft managers doing the presentation said stridently. Corners would be gently rounded, some menus would be translucent and there would be changes, such as moving the Windows start button to the center bottom of the screen. They also said that it would be more secure. 
• According to the announcement, Windows 11 will enhance user productivity with features such as being able to resume what you were doing following an interruption, even if that interruption means leaving and shutting down your computer. It will allow sessions to pick up on a different computer, or if you have a computer that has a removable tablet screen, Windows will adjust and let you carry on. 
• Your existing computers may not work with it. Financial cost and environmental impact of all those discarded computers.  It must be capable of supporting UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) which has replaced the BIOS on newer computers, and must be capable of supporting Secure Boot. 
• Some computer manufacturers may be able to make their computers compatible through updates. And even if not, Windows 10 will still be supported until 2025, which is plenty of time to decide whether you’re going to upgrade your computer or maybe switch to a Macintosh, go over to Linux or watch for new developments.

BEST MOMENTS 

“It's still a clean, fairly simple interface.” 

“Unfortunately, the bright side of Windows 11 comes at a cost.”

“Chuffed to have your computer made obsolete by an upgrade that delivers more and more of what you don’t really want?” 

View The Announcement Here: Windows 11 Announcement 

View The Video Presentation Here: Windows 11 Video Presentation 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
• Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

• Contact Neil via this website - com!

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

Discover today a simple yet effective tutoring tool that is really important in ensuring your students are comfortable, relaxed and successful in their field, whatever it is you teach, this technique will help you. Neil discusses how ‘playing pretend’ can encourage your students to relax, how eliminating their fears of failure can help with their confidence and why imagination can become reality.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A simple yet effective way of helping to teach your students is by playing ‘play pretend’. It gets the need to be right out of the way, along with their ego and allows students to go inside themselves to find the answer.
• If a student does not know what they are doing, simply ask them to pretend that they are able to. It does not matter how good or bad they are since they are only pretending. They always pretend to be better than they consciously play, the fear of failure or embarrassment is gone and they can access their resources much better.
• This strategy works with students of all ages who have been convinced they have “no talent”, no sense of rhythm, no musical ability. These are all the other limiting beliefs they were handed down from well-meaning people who didn’t realise the damage inflicted by a flippant remark or judgemental comment.
• As a tutor of anything, be it math, music, science, languages etc, this is one teaching tool that is really important to the success of your students. If a student can’t get to what they need via conscious pathway, they can usually imagine a better way.

BEST MOMENTS

“the fear of failure or embarrassment is gone and they can access their resources much better.”

“perhaps pretend that their fingers were made of mist or smoke”

“This works great for them.”

“This is one teaching tool you really don’t want to leave home without.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
  • Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

Knowing and understanding your ideal student is vital to your business’ success, find out today how you can identify your ideal client and how you can strategically market your business to be the leading service provider for that demographic. Neil discusses the benefits of knowing your client, why testing is important and what qualities to look for to discover them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• There are many reasons why choosing your ideal customer is important. By choosing who your ideal student is you will get more pleasure and purpose from your work. You can offer a better service as well as optimal pricing.
• It’s vitally important that you know what your ideal client looks like, what they do, and what they want, so think about their age, gender, profession and income. It is also important to consider their desired outcome and where they hang out in their free time.
• Once you know your market, you can market yourself to your ideal client/student, and in turn market for that demographic and become the premium service provider.
• Knowing your dream customer is vital to your business’ success. It will benefit you greatly to give this some time and thought, because your ideal customers make life easy and a lot more fun.

BEST MOMENTS

“Who are your tribe?”

“confirm that your dream client really is your dream client after all.”

“Because I’m not just working with anyone with a pulse and the necessary money”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
  • Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

Have you ever looked back on your tutoring or teaching journey and thought about what it has taught you rather than what you have taught others? Join Neil in today’s episode as he does exactly that. Neil talks through how he stumbled into the world of tutoring, how teaching often has a habit of producing unexpected consequences and how it can allow you to become more self-aware.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Teaching has a habit of producing unexpected consequences, usually out of leftfield, emerging from our blindpsots where they’ve been hiding for ages, waiting for the moment to be right to show themselves.
• Neil started teaching in 1999 after constant requests from customers in the music shop he partly owned. It was uncomfortable but it got easier as Neil became better at teaching. He found it to be a lot more fun than his finance job as he was able to help people grow and become who they wanted to be.
• When we teach, we reach deep into our own psyche, better to understand our students, and in doing so we become more self-aware, realising that we are all more alike than we are different.
• Neil thinks of teaching as reaching back to the members of his tribe who are on the same trail he has walked.  He believes that teaching work is to reveal what is most needed by your students, and that experience in turn reveals us to yourselves.

BEST MOMENTS

“I shared my love affair with the guitar”

“I became more of who I wanted to be”

“I’m more truly myself when I’m teaching, I believe”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
  • Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

Have you waited to be perfect, and watched someone with less ability and worse skills step in and take the prize that was yours? Join Neil today to discover why you should never aim to be perfect, only gloriously imperfect. Neil discusses why perfection is a toxic myth, why waiting for perfection may mean you miss out on achieving your dreams and why imperfection acts as a springboard to better.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A toxic myth – affecting you as tutors and teachers, in your lives as entrepreneurs and in the ordinary world is to aim for perfection. Perfection is the highest possible state of a thing, there is no growth to be done as it’s already at its ultimate state.
• Too many people wait for the perfect moment and It’ll never happen. As people wait they get older and sooner or later will die – perhaps wishing they hadn’t waited so long to get started or never got started at all.
• Perfection is a great lie, told to keep us in line by making us fear that it is bad to not strive for perfection. The importance placed on being perfect is toxic. Propagated by people who mean to protect us from the knocks and bumps of trying. They mean well, but if we wait to be perfect we cannot grow, evolve, try, or succeed.
• Imperfect is a way of life and acts as a springboard to better. Nobody is perfect. Nobody ever. Perfect must die and instead you should aim to be gloriously imperfect.

BEST MOMENTS

“There’ll never be a perfect time or right time”

“Jump  and grow your wings on the way down”

“I advocate Glorious Imperfection!”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)!
  • Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]