Do you freelance or own a small business? Talk to Do More Online and you could win £250. NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills are running the Do More Online campaign, and they'd love to hear from Mumsnetters who freelance or own small businesses and are embracing digital. Do More Online aims to help small businesses improve their digital skills to find more customers, be more efficient, and save money.

Do More Online say: "89% of small businesses agree it’s beneficial to deal with customers online, but 2 million (39%)* don’t have an online presence. We’re keen to hear what was it was that inspired the other 61% to go online and hope that Mumsnetters will share their personal hints and tips with us in this discussion.”

If you own a small business or are a freelancer:

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?
• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?
• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

Everyone who posts their answers to these questions will be entered into a prize draw, where one winner will receive £250.

Thanks,
MNHQ

PS - Do More Online say "Now you’ve followed the discussion, watch for yourself our videos and hear what the experts from Google, Facebook, Etsy, Ebay and Microsoft have to say to help you Do More Online:

How to build a website - with Microsoft
How to increase your online visibility - with Google
How to set up a business page - with Facebook
How to sell online - with eBay
How to set up and online shop - with Etsy "

*The research was undertaken by TNS on behalf of the Do More Online campaign between 2nd February 2015 - 27th February 2015 amongst 545 representative small businesses
** BIS Small Business Survey, 2012

I'm an independent recruitment consultant:-

Do you do any of the following for your business online –

manage your finances online, No just an excel spreadsheet

use social media, Yes Linked In, Twitter and Facebook

have a website, Yes

sell through your own or a third party website, No

or use online marketing? Yes

If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? If anyone needs my services online is where the vast majority will go to find me so important I have an online presence

What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? Yes I approached friends who work in the industry and a charity that helps small business.

I'm currently debating whether to set up my own website from the start or to just start off by advertising on industry-specific directories. The cost of web development and ongoing costs puts me off

Can I offer my experience? I had the same thoughts as you, wanting to make some money then get a beautiful website designed, but I found no one would take my services any further because they wanted my website, candidates were dubious of my legitimacy as I didn't have a website and I couldn't access some advertising websites because I didn't have a website!

So I just got a one page website which outlined my services and experience with links to Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to get more information.

I have a lovely friend who can design you a website quite cheaply - If you want to PM me I can give you a link to see if you like it and she can do a simple one for you initially and then when you get some money in the bank can then spend money on a sophisticated website.

I co own a small software company with my DH - we are entirely digital.

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online: yes we use xero and mypaye and use an online business account with Barclays.

use social media:
Yes we use Twitter,

have a website: yep

sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? Yes we sell direct through our website but also work with affiliates and external software promotion sites to run special offers / feature in bundles

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? Have been online since day one.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? We reach a far wider audience through a digital Presence. We have also gathered a very useful collection of international friends who help us test new releases/ provide translation help with features.

I'm a freelance journalist, although nowadays I am more of a freelance writer/ content provider.

Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? I am on Twitter and Linkedin professionally but don't use them as much as I ought to, people can check out I am who I say I am though. I don't have a web site although I have a hugely neglected blog. I do manage my finances online but I would do that anyway.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? In a past life I was a web editor so I had to embrace social media marketing, etc, and anything I do is a hang up from that - I haven't had the time to develop it further though I should. Actually writing stuff always comes first.

manage your finances online, No just an excel spreadsheet

Sorry misunderstood - yes I do my banking online

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

I manage my finances online, use social media and have a website with ads.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

The website IS the business: it's a site about people's stories, so it had to be online from the outset.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

Before starting my own project I'd written for websites and other media so I knew how it worked. I've had to learn how to use social media by trial and error. I've found it quite satisfying getting to grips with Twitter but IMHO we need to demystify the whole social media thing - it really isn't rocket science!

I have a website and use social media, it's a very small and slow to build up business so I don't really manage a lot of finance at the moment.

I have always been online from the start and find its so important to connect with people online.

I asked other small business owners for advice and also went to networking meetings.

If you own a small business or are a freelancer: Freelance education work

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – I manage my finances entirely online (Thankfully I no longer need to use or receive cash)
• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? Online allows me to access the companies and resources that I need to work with.
• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? I didn't need to seek advice. Managing as much as possible online is the sensible option as it saves me money and time.

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing? I have a website and use social media to promote it.
• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital? I create content for other websites as I love writing. I also use online banking andbpaypal for my business.
• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice? I like connecting with likeminded people. I am confident in my IT skills.

I run my own cleaning and ironing business from home and use social media to advertise my services locally. I'd love to have my own website but I don't really have any idea how to get started in that area.

Online? Everything I can - it makes life so much easier, but the best of all is filing my tax return online. It takes (almost) all the stress out of it

I have a consultancy business.

I do manage my finances online but am ashamed to say I haven't even set up a website with contact details. I did start the process but it just took too long and seemed too complicated.

The choices were a bit overwhelming and I felt that I wanted someone to sit with me and take me through it, rather than wasting time with trial and error. I didn't want to end up with something amateurish.

I trade online on Amazon and ebay. I manage all my finances myself without an accountant. I don't use any type of marketing and relying on target keyword searches for my listings to come up. Online is mainstream now especially ebay and amazon. However, ebay is starting to go downhill a bit especially with the influx of Chinese sellers with their counterfeit goods.

If you own a small business or are a freelancer:
Yes, I own a small business.

• Do you do any of the following for your business online – manage your finances online, use social media, have a website, sell through your own or a third party website, or use online marketing?

I manage the majority of my financial affairs online for my business. I also sell stock through Ebay and Etsy and use social media sites in order to promote my business.

• If you’ve started a business and moved it online, or even started the business online, what was it that made you go digital?

Despite the fact that I do have a physical premises, the most part of my sales are generated through online selling sites. I believe that people buy more online now as they are able to search for specific items and compare the best deals.

• What was it that made it possible to embrace digital? Were there positive influences or places where you sought advice?

I often seek advice from search engines and online forums as I am relatively new to business.

Thanks for all your comments! The winner of the prize draw is TigerTrumpet :)