Not about the budget!

Newsletter - Things are looking up
The response to our fee survey this year has been fantastic, so thanks to all of you who participated or passed the survey on to your contacts. As well as our own database, the survey was sent out by a number of our partners, reaching well over 40,000 consultants and freelancers in total, making this the most comprehensive survey we've done.
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Newsletter - Pacing Yourself
Over the weekend I'm acting as support crew for some friends who've foolishly decided to canoe from Devizes in Wiltshire to Westminster - which will take them about 4 days. A crucial factor in getting through the event is getting the pacing right - too fast and they'll burn out and not make the end, too slow and they have to get up even earlier the next day! Talking over the event made me think about how business life can sometimes seem like a never-ending sprint to the line, there's always just one more deadline or one more client meeting, but things rarely seem to settle into a steady state.
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Not about the budget!

I've been bombarded with emails and newsletters about the budget today - but there doesn't seem to be much to say about it - so I thought I'd just pass on some advice I was given a very long time ago. "Never do something purely for tax reasons" - I can't remember who this came from but I think it's very sound. If you were going to buy something or invest in something anyway then it clearly make sense to do it tax-efficiently - but if it's a bad investment of time or money the tax concession isn't going to help. Couple this with governments' nasty habit of changing the tax rules and there are 2 very good reasons for looking carefully at any new 'scheme' before taking the plunge!

Fortunately for our members it seems that Alistair Darling wasn't the only one working over the Easter weekend, we had a number of projects posted late on Thursday and over the Bank Holiday, some of which have already expired.

Direct Client UK Launch of New Energy Drink
Sales/marketing help for Guest House web site
Sales person for Crowd Collaboration Project

There's also been the usual wide range of tenders on the site, these are just a small selection:

Client Web Site Opportunity Awareness Workshops , West Midlands
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Engineer, West Midlands
Economic Analysis of Environmental Project,Overseas
Feasibility Study - Arts Centre, Scotland
Website for Road Bridge , Scotland
IT Security Assessment ,Yorkshire and Humberside
Client Web Site Consultancy Services for a Doorstepping Campaign, South West
Review of Funding Options for Public Service Provision, Wales
Experts for Agribusiness Development,Overseas
Freelance researchers, writers and consultants , United Kingdom
Evaluation consultant for orchestras, Greater London
Client Web Site Integrated Regeneration Study, North West England
Equalities Impact Assessment , Greater London
Web information and notification system , Greater London
OJEU Fair Cost Commissioning Model for Learning Disabilities, Scotland
OJEU Advertising & Marketing Services , South West
OJEU Academic and Administrative PCs , South Coast
OJEU Software provision and training, East Midlands
OJEU PR Agency Services , Scotland

I've been promising Angela for some time that I'd write up the answers to the questions we get asked most frequently about tendering and have finally made a start on this. I've tried to break it down into bite-sized chunks so you can tackle it in the order that suits you. Feel free to send us your comments or comment via the Skillfair blog - the starting article is here or you can login and click on Help then search for Tenders.

There's also a question on the blog from a member about how to meet the financial requirements that some tenders insist on - if you have any creative suggestions please pass them on.