Is Red Tape Killing Your Business?

Freya Sykes Written by Freya Sykes
on November 3rd, 2007 / 3 Comments / Print this

I know it’s certainly got a strangle hold on our business. Of course this is an internationally read and contributed to site here at SBB so different business laws will apply to different folk, but generally speaking I do think as a business owner red tape is too constricting.

And now I’m really going to sound like a moaning mini…but it rarely seems that new legislation is in the favour of the business owner. The government treasury seem to come out winners, employees seem to come out as winners, but the poor old chap simply trying to run his business on a day to day basis isn’t winning any ground! It sems like a constant uphill hike just keeping on top of what the new legislation actually is. I mean it’s rare that we actually get told what it is, instead it is up to us, the business owner, to find out and keep abreast of it - Just who has the time when you are already busy running a company? You’d need to employ someone full time just to keep an eye on these things - great if you are a large corporate structure, but not so workable if you are an SME!

So what’s the solution? Less red tape? Well it may be nice as some of the rule changes are silly and it does look like some governments simply produce new rules in order to create paperwork, which then needs a new pen pushing department to deal with it, which in turn means employing people to do that pen pushing…which has the sum total of bringing down the government’s unemployment figures! Hurrah!

But seriously shouldn’t small businesses be left in peace to get on with the business of running their company rather than being bound and constricted by red tape?

Do we actually need all the rules that are in place? I don’t think so. There’s certainly a few I can think of that I’d quite happily live without. What about you?

About Freya Sykes

Freya Sykes

Freya Bletsoe is the founder and Group Director of the UK based Homefinder Group Ltd. The company was founded in January 2003 after Freya and her husband had spent 7 years buying and selling property and land for profit. As they did so they were approached by more and more people who wanted help when buying investment property or relocating. Out of it Homefinder UK Ltd was born and the company has now grown into the UK’s leading firm of Property Location Agents. Clients include First Time Buyers right up to Premiership Footballers and Rugby Internationals who are moving clubs. The website for the company is www.homefinderuk.com

Freya is also the Yorkshire Region’s Vice Chairman for the charity, the Variety Club of Great Britain, as well as being a member of the Sports Committee based in London. The charity is concerned with raising hundreds of thousands of pounds each year through various events held across the country each year. The money raised is then used to help disable and disadvantaged children across the regions. The website for the charity is www.varietyclub.org.uk

Finally Freya is a serious networker, attending many off line events as well as on line ones. She writes her own Blog at www.freyabletsoe.com and comes from a long line of successful businessmen. Freya also has a strong interest in the “dark art” of franchising as she is the lead director responsible at Homefinder UK for the companies expansion plans via a franchise model.

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3 Comments to “Is Red Tape Killing Your Business?”

  • Fred333
    November 3rd, 2007
    6:25 am

    I agree there are some rules that my business benefits from but overall I think there are to many.

  • Freya Bletsoe
    November 5th, 2007
    5:31 pm

    Hi Fred333,
    Yes I totally agree with you…unfortuantely overall there is too much red tape for us business owners that’s for sure…but how to get around it because as you say - some of it DOES benefit our businesses too?
    Thanks for the comment.
    Kindest
    Freya

  • Remi Aubin
    December 8th, 2007
    12:42 am

    Totally agree. I have been operating at the same location for thirty eight years except for a sabatical from 1990 to 2000. Shortly after I returned and got back into the same business I started to realize I had made a mistake. It was as if I had set up in a third world country being run by warlords. I literally have a trail of inspectors coming through my place writing me up on everything imaginable, this after spending a fortune upgrading the place. I haven’t seen any of them lately because it’s winter here and they have all gone back to school to top up their courses. They surely will be back in the spring with a whole new agenda but fortunately or unfortunately I won’t be here. I live in Ontario Canada. Thanks for the site.

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