I got an E in GCSE business studies but I have ran a certain business: get a good product or service and then network. Any type of meeting, discussion, contract or whatever you have to have a strong headed, clear cut, no bullshit line, opinion and decision.

A my way or the highway type attitude and you only go against it if someone has a genuinely better idea and way of executing it. Not for any other reason.

Steve Jobs made a good point that he only ever did it for the business itself and to give quality products. The line of business I was in was purely for the money and quality was over-ridden by the fact no one else had it at the time.

I think those are the three main things of anything you pursue in life:

Doing it for the sake of doing it
Giving something better to the world
Through your vision (Though that doesn't mean to not collaborate)

what type of business do you own?
does it provide a service or product?
did you finance your start up on your own or did you look for investments?
how long did it take your business to turnover a healthy cash flow?

Contractors who are dictated too aren't real contractors they're disguised employees and are therefore eligible to pay the same levels of tax.
This makes me think you are not familiar with IR35 and could be working within it. If you're working through a limited company this could be a costly mistake if HMRC investigate your company.

This website is a good resource on the subject:
What is a disguised employee?

I'm a contractor and I think of myself as a supplier. The company I work for (and it's the sole director) is supplying a service to my client.
How I deliver that service is my business. In much the same way you wouldn't call a plumber up and tell him when he can go on lunch and what hours he works.


Back on topic - contracting is more a choice and a different way of working. It's not necessarily always more money than perm when you add in factors like bench time and permie benefits.

As for me - I went contracting last year and I'm about to buy a 2 bedroom house in central London, something I could have never done with a perm salary.

Mark

I'm familiar with IR35. As I said I've got an accountant who takes cares of all my books. Dividends, expenses, write offs - he advises me on all that.

What I'm doing is nothing new & pretty common, especially here. The oil industry in Aberdeen is worth billions, every big company here employs plenty guys on day rate. The bulk of my friends have been doing it for years, since their mid - late twenties. Only reason it took me so long is I was wanted more experience and industry qualifications on my CV.

Mate I don't mean to be a dick but why are you asking me vague questions about what I do? How does it help you? I could be importing bricks from china and you could be cutting hair in chelsea. Surely you want to ask specific questions about what you are doing?

If you are after general assurances then I'd say be aware that in my experience it's a never ending siege of aggro, stress and complexity but I'd still encourage people to go into business because at least you'll learn a lot and grow. Just don't put your house on it.

Jay101, you're really asking the wrong questions here. You're also getting a lot of skewed advice.

I've been running my own business for around 5 years. Started completely from scratch. After 3 I quite my shitty job at a supermarket. Now I employee 3 others, full time. This was not my first business, it will not be my last.

I 'own' my business, I do not 'have' a business. The difference? When you own a business, you sit on top of it. You put the systems in place so it can run autonomously, if you need it to. While I'm not at the stage where I can gallivant round the world for 6 months at a time, I can go on a relatively stress-free, two week holiday multiple times a year, without things falling apart.

Phil is in the position I was a while back, but he's building for the future. Unfortunately it sounds like he's doing it wrong. He currently has a job. His business owns him. I'd strongly recommend he reads the 4 Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferris. It's not a great book, and Tim's a bit of a dick - but his work ethic and methods are inspirational.

Let me tell you some truths about running your own business:

Any academic qualifications in business are a complete load of shit. Your MBA doesn't mean shit, profit does. Sure you can study some accounting course so you can do your own books. But that's wasted time and money, if you don't have a business that makes money, you won't have a use for that fancy accounting qualification. Work on the stuff that matters in your business, the stuff you like doing - pay someone else to do the other stuff. Don't pay an accountant though, pay a bookkeeper - they're much cheaper. Only get an accountant for your year end.

Don't step on people, don't 'network' - just make good friends and help them first - call in favours later when you need to.

Academic qualifications (and I'll get slated for this) are purely for others (potential employers) to judge your competence. They push out of date techniques and ideals, by teachers who have never actually done it (can you afford to pay Richard Branson for tutor lessons?) Unfortunately most courses are based on a linear way of learning. Aka, memorize as much of this stuff as possible, just in case. Anyone whose worked a job for 10 years will tell you their education started on their first day, not on theory, not in school.

The way you learn in business, the only way you learn business - is to actually do business. I dropped out of going to uni at the age of 19, so I could spend more time on my (then) businesses. One went under. This happens, a lot. Failure happens a lot. Failure in business is like approaches in pick-up. Just embrace it, don't let it knock your confidence - if anything use the experience to build your confidence. By the time all my friends left uni I was earning more than any one of them. Many times more.

Don't get investment. You rarely need the money, you need advice and knowledge. People go on Dragons Den for advice and publicity, not money. Learn on the job. If you need to find a way to market your business on a budget, buy the best rated books on Amazon on marketing. Buy a Kindle, it will save you a lot of money. You will need to read a lot of books. I said academic qualifications are a load of shit, education on the other hand is extremely important. It's also criminally cheap to acquire. You can gather millions of pounds worth of sound business advice from an £8 book.

Ideas are cheap. You don't need the perfect idea, you just need to execute it well. I've never had an original idea in my life, I've just picked bits of what other people do well and use it myself.

Make sure you're making profit from month-1. If you're not making profit, you can't reinvest back into the business and you can't grow. Compound growth, Google it. If you make too much profit, you're not growing fast enough.

Think about why you want to build a business, and what your business will do differently or better than your competitors. How you will serve your customers in the best possible way. Building a business means you'll be skint for a few years, you'll not have much free time, you'll worry about where your next meal comes from, you might have to sell your TV for rent...

I by no means see myself as coming out of the other side. I've just replaced one load of stress and problems for another lot. You will fail, you may crumble, you'll get told you can't do it by family and friends - keep your overheads low and you might just prove them wrong.

Now I earn a comfortable living, I answer to no one, I have complete freedom and I've created something in this world that's much bigger than myself.

And I fucking love it.

Great post hammertime, inspirational.

Well the good is that you grow allot from the experience. Moreso than you would do a regular job. The bad is that it's not as glamorous as it sounds. You have to live, breath and sleep your business. So with that you have to make sacrifices. No going out, less family and friends time. Working day and night and on weekends.

So it's a good experience, but not for everyone.

I was gunna start a thread on starting a business, but then I saw this one that's already titled exactly what I was gunna title mine.

And basically this awesome post answers pretty much everything you'd want to know...

I am going for a consultation with a business advisor next week. It's one of these business start up organisations that my friend works for.

I need a few ideas of what I would start up though? I think the best bet would be a shop or store of some sort, in the city centre. If you can't get a shop going in a city you can't do it anywhere.

Another thing though would be all this possible economic downturn as a result of all this EU bollocks. That could prove to be an obstacle at this time.

However my new favourite motto is...

"If you risk nothing, you risk everything"

So your going for a consultation with a business startup - but you have no idea what your going to start up?

Are you just wanting to "start a business" for the sake of it? No offence Dan but sounds like your nowhere near ready & you should probably put a lot more thought into this. How can you be looking to startup a business when you don't even know what it is or what you want to do?