The last of our online masterclasses for this academic year saw Yvonne Gale from NEL Fund Managers take us through an insightful and useful session on business finances. Yvonne gave an overview of the main types of business finance: grants, debts, equity and profits, as well as discussing different sub-sectors within them and the potential benefits or hinderances of each type of finance. She then aided us by explaining finance lingo that we were previously unaware of, such as pari-passu, to make finances less daunting in the future. Not only that, but an important segment on who to go to when finding money for your business was also extremely useful to attendees. 

Yvonne also gave advice on how to get paid promptly for your work. One of the main strategies advised was part of the transactional analysis (PAC), where one must avoid a parent/child dynamic and use factual evidence, rather than becoming aggressive or defensive. In this method, you are an adult and so is your client- there is mutual respect involved and it will be much more effective at ensuring a timely payment. 

Yvonne’s goal wasn’t to make us experts in finances, but to be more confident in the future- and I think all the participants can agree that the mission was successful. If you missed this Masterclass or if you’re interested in future financial session advice, Yvonne recommended ‘Let’s Talk About Money’ which is a free series of weekly classes ran by the NEL. To find out more, visit the NEL website here: https://nel.co.uk/events/ 

Thank you to those who have attended any of our Masterclasses this academic year, we’ll be back later in the year with more sessions!