Business with the Donnos

Send us Fan Mail You can’t “find time” for strategy when your week is crammed with tiny jobs that feel urgent but do nothing for growth. Jane and Paul Domino get blunt about the real problem they see with small business owners: doing £15-an-hour tasks while the £500-an-hour work like strategic planning, marketing, pricing, and relationship building gets pushed aside. The fix is not another product...

Send us Fan Mail Tax rules shouldn’t hold your business back. We take you behind the headlines on Making Tax Digital and show how sole traders and landlords can turn quarterly submissions into a simple, powerful system for visibility, planning, and growth. If your turnover hits £50,000 from April 2026, you’re in scope for MTD-ITSA, with the threshold dropping to £30,000 in 2027 and likely £20,000...

Send us Fan Mail Tired of hiding behind a logo while your marketing stalls? We unpack why personal branding has become the most reliable growth channel for small businesses and how to start without feeling awkward or salesy. From building a real voice to avoiding the pitfalls of over-polished content, we share the practical moves that make people choose you before they ever visit your website. We...

Send us Fan Mail Could your business grow if you disappeared for three weeks with your phone off? We tackle the owner’s trap head-on and share the exact mindset, systems, and hiring moves that turn a founder-dependent operation into a resilient, valuable company someone else would actually want to buy. From the first friction audit to the final handover, we walk through how we’ve applied these ide...

Send us Fan Mail Apprenticeships can be a growth engine or a drain on your team depending on one decision: how you design the experience. We’ve hired across accounting and marketing, trained people from level two through to professional quals, and even completed a management MBA via an apprenticeship route—so we’ve seen both sides of the process. In this candid session, we break down what actually...

Send us Fan Mail Tired of drifting year to year and hoping growth just happens? We dig into a practical, human way to plan 2026 so your business protects profit, stays cash healthy, and actually supports the life you want. We start with the destination—growth, stability, lower stress, or a clean exit—then work backwards into simple, repeatable actions your team can own. You’ll hear how we pair a s...

Send us Fan Mail The dashboards everyone talks about but no one seems to have? We built one, made it useful, and got it to update itself before breakfast and after close. This week we share the messy middle: the dead-end Power BI attempt, the admin pain of manual spreadsheets, and the moment an AI builder helped us ship a working operational dashboard without writing code from scratch. We walk thr...

Send us Fan Mail What if small businesses could outpace big brands by making simpler, smarter choices? We dive into the practical side of digital transformation where it matters most: seamless payments, recurring bookings, faster quotes, and fewer evening admin marathons. Our goal is simple—strip away the friction that pushes customers to abandon carts and owners to burn out, and replace it with t...

Send us Fan Mail January always brings pressure to do more – grow faster, add services, chase ideas. But in reality, trying to fix everything at once is often what stalls good businesses. In this episode, we start with a few real-life updates, then get straight into what actually moves the needle when cash feels tight and headspace is limited. We share a simple but powerful framework: stop what dr...

Send us Fan Mail "Breaking the System: Why Processes Matter" explores the transformative power of well-designed business processes through the candid lens of a father-daughter business team. When Paul initially built his accountancy practice, everything remained locked in his head - a common entrepreneurial trap that creates an invisible ceiling on growth. Enter Jade, who implemented sys...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt guilty saying "no" to a potential client or business opportunity? You're not alone. As business owners, we're conditioned to chase every pound and please every customer—but what if this approach is actually holding you back? In this candid conversation, we pull back the curtain on one of the most challenging yet powerful business skills: the...

Send us Fan Mail Ever noticed how successful entrepreneurs like Richard Branson seem to have endless time while running massive companies? Their secret isn't superhuman productivity—it's strategic delegation.  After encountering a relaxed business owner at an exclusive golf club who credited his personal assistant for his balanced life, we decided to take the plunge ourselves. Enter Nico...

Send us Fan Mail The AI revolution isn't just for tech giants—it's transforming how small businesses operate right now. In this eye-opening conversation, Jade and Paul Dono break down the practical ways artificial intelligence is already working behind the scenes in businesses of all sizes, and how savvy entrepreneurs can harness its power without complex technical knowledge. Discover ho...

Send us Fan Mail The workplace has undergone a seismic shift since 2020, leaving business owners grappling with fundamental questions about where and how their teams should work. Jade and Paul Dono tackle this pivotal debate with refreshing honesty and practical insights from both sides of the generational divide. Drawing from their experience running One Accounts through the pandemic—where they a...

Send us Fan Mail Fear of crossing the VAT threshold is stunting the growth of countless UK small businesses. We've witnessed business owners take drastic measures—including temporarily shutting down operations—just to stay below the £90,000 mark and avoid VAT registration. This mindset creates an artificial ceiling that prevents scaling, expansion, and ultimately, success. The apprehension ty...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered how to take a proper holiday when your business relies on you? For family businesses, this challenge multiplies when several key people want to vacation together. How do you keep operations running smoothly while actually enjoying your time away? This episode tackles the real struggle business owners face when planning time off. We share candid stories about our upco...

Send us Fan Mail Struggling to price your services confidently? You're not alone. This candid conversation between Jade and Paul Dono tackles the widespread problem of business owners undervaluing their expertise and time. We've noticed a pattern across our client base—and in our own accounting practice—where small business owners consistently undercharge, overdeliver, and ultimately bur...

Send us Fan Mail The age-old question of whether to pursue university education or an apprenticeship remains a pivotal decision for young people and businesses alike. After attending an enlightening debate at Cambridge University on whether graduates can compete in today's job market, we found ourselves on opposite sides of the argument – Paul championing apprenticeships while Jade defended t...

Send us Fan Mail The heartbeat of your business isn't your profit and loss statement—it's your balance sheet. We pull back the curtain on this misunderstood financial document that reveals the true strength of your company. While most small business owners obsess over turnover figures, we explore why focusing solely on profit can lead to disaster if your balance sheet isn't healthy....

Send us Fan Mail Key Performance Indicators offer a tangible way to measure business performance and track progress toward growth goals. We pull back the curtain on how these metrics can transform decision-making and provide early warning systems for potential problems. • Pick three key KPIs to monitor monthly for most businesses • Financial KPIs include gross profit percentage, net profit percent...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s episode of Business with the Donnos , we’re diving into one of the biggest challenges in any business – dealing with change (and not losing your team – or your sanity – in the process). Paul admits he’s got a habit of making changes on the fly (usually without telling anyone), which drives Jade completely up the wall. From switching systems with no warning to "...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Business with the Donnos , we’ve been surrounded by boxes, cables, and more keyboards than we care to admit – because we’re moving offices! In this episode, we share the highs, lows, and hard-earned lessons from relocating our family business to The EpiCentre in Haverhill – with a big shout out to their brilliant team for making the transition smoother. We cover: Why...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Business with the Donnos , we’re diving into all things customer service – the good, the bad, and the unforgettable. We’re sharing our own experiences (including a few horror stories), what we discussed in our latest team meeting, and why amazing customer service is at the heart of everything we do – especially in a family-run business. From AI chatter to real human c...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we’re fresh from attending two very different industry events – and we’re unpacking the good, the bad, and the slightly awkward! We chat about what we actually got out of these days away from the office, from making genuine connections to getting inspired (and slightly overwhelmed). Whether you’re a seasoned networker or wondering if events are just a day of free...

Send us Fan Mail 🎙️ Episode 1: Meet the Donnos – Our Business, Our Chaos Welcome to the very first episode of Business with the Donnos – the podcast where family meets business and things get a little bit chaotic (in the best way). We’re lifting the lid on who we are, how we accidentally (and sometimes chaotically) built an award-winning accountancy firm, and why we’ve decided to hit record and in...