Steven Sonsino of the London Business School believes that more companies should allow employees to try out new methods even if they fail.

He says, “Too many senior executives and owners of small businesses have their set way of doing things and end up micro-managing.” This can lead to paralysis in the business through fear of making mistakes.

The best businesses, small or large, encourage workers to try out new ways of doing things whatever the results. This invariably makes the business more successful.

Robert Myatt, Director of business psychology firm Kaisen Consulting confirms this : “If you talk about risk-taking then come down on people like a ton of bricks, it will send out a completely contradictory message.”

The ideal situation is to allow experimentation within reason. In many ways, the people who do the job will know more about it than you do, and what will work, and what will not.

The question of the ideal age to start a business is bouncing round the blogosphere today.

Venture capitalist Fred Wilson started it, and his view is that most entrepreneurs form their companies in their thirties. There are a few who are older, but many are younger. Matt Mullenweg is a good example. He started WordPress at the tender age of just 19.

Nick Denton at Valleywag speculates, “My guess: older entrepreneurs fail less often, but succeed less stunningly.” He goes on, “Even if there were evidence that young entrepreneurs are more likely to strike out, risk-hungry investors will still fall for youth”.

As Fred Wilson says, “… only one of the entrepreneurs in our current portfolio is older than 45. And he’ll probably be starting companies until he dies. It’s what he does”.

Anyone over 40 it seems should consider bootstrapping their startup. In their thirties? Ditto, unless there are pressing reasons not to.

Below 30, the world is your oyster, it would seem. Like everything else, it all comes down to the individual involved.

When Syntagma Digital was a new business, bookkeeping and accountancy were a major problem. We bought a couple of software packages — Quickbooks and Sage — but both were far too complex for a simple content business selling only ad space online and with no employees.

Nowadays we rely on professional services, but for bootstrapping startups a quick, easy and FREE small business accountancy package would be a blessing.

Microsoft has helpfully provided such a package as part of its Office 2007 suite and is offering it as a standalone product for small businesses.

Download Microsoft Office Accounting 2007 here.

The Money Log will soon become part of Syntagma Digital’s new network magazine, Moneyizor.

This will require a change of livery and a regular slot in the magazine’s dynamic content producer. It will also mean more regular updating with lots of new features.

Moneyizor will cover all aspects of finance and business, including the stock markets, innovation, entrepreneurial matters and small business.

Watch this space for more news.