Chris Maslin, of Go EO, is sharing what's coming up for him in September!

September has arrived – what will this month bring? This month we’re asking business owners what the month will bring for them.

Today is the turn of Chris Maslin is based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and is the director of Go EO Ltd. Chris helps businesses across the UK transition to employee ownership. Having successfully managed this with an accounting firm that he started in 2008, Chris is keen to support others to do the same.

How was your summer as we go into autumn? Any highlights for you or your business? 
It’s been quiet for us. Small business owners, like most people, often enjoy a break from work over the summer. I myself took a fortnight away with my wife and dog, for plenty of walking in the warm weather. Enjoying the calm before the storm!

What’s coming up for your business in September? 
With the autumn budget approaching, quite a few people who have been considering an EOT sale for a while are now pressing for completion. Keen to avoid any risk to the current tax breaks if the government were to announce immediate changes. Hence for us it’ll be drafting multiple sets of legal documents ready for sign off in early-mid October.

It’s ‘back to school’ month or ‘start of university’ month – is this relevant to you personally or professionally?
Similar to the above, back to school for the kids, tends to mean back to work for the parents. Hence ideas they pondered over the summer now get put into action. For a small minority, this will include a sale to an Employee Ownership Trust.

September is also known as ‘organic’ month – when it comes to your business/organisation/personal life, what do you do to be ‘more green’? If it’s in business do you work with other brands to be more sustainable?
Whilst there’s no direct link, there’s often correlation between Employee Ownership (EO), and a business being more purpose-led. Employees will still want the company they work for to be profitable, as they’ll share in that. But EO softens capitalism. Profits are spread more widely among the team, and are more likely to be reinvested in the local community.

World Gratitude Day takes place this month (Sept 21) – what are you grateful for in your business/organisation/at home? 
I’m very aware how fortunate I’ve been, in many ways. Business has been kind to me, and I’m keen to spread the benefits of that where I can. The accountancy firm I started (the imaginatively named Maslins Ltd), and which is now Employee Owned itself, has a strong and loyal team. The more long standing members I trained up, and they’re passing on skills and knowledge to the newer recruits. The business really cares for the team, which in turn helps the team care for the clients.

There are many other ‘points of interest’ during September which could be relevant to you or your business. Here are five, pick any which are personally or professionally relevant to you?

*Sept 6 to 15 – Heritage Open Days 2024.
*Sept 18 – Read An Ebook Day.
*Secondhand September*Sept 27 – World Tourism Day
*Organic Your September.
I’d not heard of Secondhand September until now! I am however a supporter of The Restart Project/Right to Repair. Unfortunately in the modern economy high cost of skilled labour vs low cost of mass production means repairing is rarely financially viable. It’s devastating how many things get thrown into landfill when just one tiny part is broken! Even worse, some manufacturers deliberately make products hard to repair, to “force” you to throw away and buy a new one. Right to Repair lead the fight against this.

What are your hopes for business for the rest of this year?
September sees our team double in size (from 1 to 2!). We’re taking on a full time marketing and operations guru. She’ll be helping us expand awareness of our brand, and also develop new services/online courses to help small employers and those wishing to sell.

Have you got any services or special offers you’d like to mention?
We’ve recently launched an entirely free employee engagement survey. Perfect for businesses with 10-100 employees, who want to better understand how their staff feel about the business across a range of topics. Click here to register and run it for your company, or click here to have a play with the survey for a demo company.

You can find out more about Chris by visiting goeo.uk