Starting a business
 

i have always wanted to work for myself, only recently have i taken step to starting my own business.

just curious has anyone on here tried to start up their own business before?
would like to hear experiences good and bad?

I did a free level 2 business enterprise course 5 years ago & got a phonecall informing me I was being awarded level 3 as I'd exceeded expectations.

I thought "hmmm, looks like I'm fucking good at this" & proceeded in finding & developing a business idea.

I did allllll the relevant research on the product, competition, advertising, costs, all that shit. And worked out a marketing plan. I did everything by the book & following what I'd learned, but...

Then I got hooked on mephedrone after it was made illegal (we'd been selling it over the counter beforehand in a head shop) & sold it purely to fund my own habit. The purpose was to make money of course, but it didn't work that way. Each week I'd make £300/400 for the boss, & use £300/400 of meph myself. I just got high as fuck for 5 days a week, sleep a day or 2, have something to eat, receive a delivery, & repeat the process, for about 6 months.

Then I gave up drugs & had this moment of realization that I was meant to be working as a drug counsellor, & the rest is history.

So, I did have a plan to go into business, but my plans took a detour into the wrong kind of business.

Before that I was excited as fuck about my new venture, working out my costs & I saw potential for ridiculously enormous profits, so big I couldn't believe.

However, when I reviewed the work I'd done a year before, during which time I'd completed a diploma in financial management (whilst off my head I should add. Also, mephedrone made me smarter no joke ) I realized I'd been all about business costs, & had neglected to even consider the legalities - tax, national insurance, corporation tax, etc etc. So I'm not sure it would have been successful after all.

What's the "steps" you have taken?

My advice is to take a course in business. There are a lot of free ones floating around. If there's a local enterprise centre or organization they run these programmes, free.

It will give you a basis from which to work from, as well as having ongoing support after you've set up, should you get that far. They can even fund it for you.

I'm turned self employed in February, although its really just a bit of a cop out. I don't have a physical office although for legal purposes my house is classed as my companies business premises & I don't have anyone who works for me. I just contract/consult for whichever company has a vacancy for what I do & get a day rate, but no benefits - no holiday or sick pay, pension, medical etc. Hired an accountant who I just pay a fee every month to do my books.

Worth doing, depending on what you do, you can make a lot more as opposed to if you were staff.

Yes I'm a business owner. I'm not going to just type random experiences, do you have any specific questions?

Level 3 diploma in small business financial management.

That's what I done so I'd be able to do my own accounts & save money. It was one evening a week for 8 - 9 months, 80 hours. I think it was a couple of hundred quid. It covers 8 modules..

Keeping of records, VAT, payroll, the preparation and interpretation of final accounts, taxation and reporting to HMRC, costing and pricing of products, management of working capital and financial planning and control.

I've no idea how much hiring an accountant is per month, but a qualification like this would save you this cost.

Same here, well worth it if only for the tax break.

Yeah, I obviously don't take the full amount every month. Its my company that invoices the client, and then from that my company pays me a smaller amount.

Dan, in the grand scheme of things its not that much. TBH I can't be bothered with the hassle - much easier for him to take care of it and keep me right.

It costs me around ~£400 a year, and it saves me generally more than I would pay HMRC, its generally just worth it for peace of mind, plus the guy knows more than me about what can and can't be claimed against, I just feel more comfortable having somebody to query about it and let them deal with it.

this i hate.

having ur own business is fucking shit. its a ball ache.

i haven't paid myself a wage from this business since it began a year ago.

grated at the end there is a pay off, but I'm not doing it coz i want to work for myself I'm doing it for money.

Anyone who thinks working for urself gives u more freedom is a complete moron.

It depends on what you do & how you do it. I still work 9-5 (well actually contractors are generally required to do a 9 hour day, chuck in an hour for lunch and its 10), still have a manager to report to, the only difference is I earn a lot more than if I was doing the same job as an employee.

And yeah as D!ce says, compared to what your earning, paying an accountant a small fee per year isn't really an issue at all.

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?

Yeah I know you're right. I think I'm just suddenly overexcited & yes I do need to put a lot more thought into it.

I don't think it would be too difficult to get a small business off the ground though especially in a city. In Belfast there are dozens of independent businesses that established themselves off the back of larger chains & franchises.

A good example is the e-cig phenomenon. There is the big chain known as Kix... & now every other street you go on to there's an independent e-cig store. This is in most towns - I'm sure you've seen it yourselves.

Going into business off the back of someone else wouldn't have been my first choice, but it appears to be an effective method of getting one going, because all the smaller start ups I've seen are still going strong.

Of course I'm gunna give it more thought.

But it is now on my radar again. I'm not spending my life making other cunts rich.

Are you not studying something physchology related; you not aiming to move into helping addicts or kids or become a social worker or something along those lines?

Yeah I'm doing a psychology degree which was gunna assist in counselling & education for addicts & youngsters. However I'm no longer aiming to become a full time social worker/Counsellor. I'm never gunna get rich that way.

I'm a volunteer counsellor for ChildLine & I'm happy with that once a week shift. It means a lot to me & I'll always do it.

Long term is not truly mapped out yet. I don't yet know what way I will progress with my company. Even if & when I do, I know I could be a good businessman, so if I stay with the company I'll always have that urge inside that I should have took a chance.

I'll probably take a chance at some point to be fair. But like you rightly reminded me, I'm not just gunna grab some stupid product & open a business just for the sake of it.

I've got a few books I'm going to power my way through for inspiration..

Currently reading The $100 Start Up

Then I've got..

Alan Sugar - What you see is what you get

James Caan - The real deal

Sam Walton - Made in America

Tim Ferris - The 4 hour work week



As for what I said above about not knowing what will happen with my company in regards to where I'll go with it. One thing is for sure - I refuse to pay into a pension scheme where I "put money away" for retirement in 36 fucking years. I may not even make it that far. I see a pension "scheme" as another form of tax. Plus, pension is the most depressing word I can think of.

The way I see it is, I have 36 years to make my own large chunk of money. Even if it takes 5 failed businesses to reach a successful one.

Obviously I'm not planning to fail 5 businesses - the point is I'd prefer to do that than wait until I'm 70 & past my best to have regular pocket money from my own savings.

Fuck. That. Shit.

Been thinking a lot about business ever since I last posted here a few months ago.

Something I have always seemed to do well is talk about doing something for ages, then do it. I'll talk about something for much longer than I should, but then i'll decide I'm just gunna fucking do it.

In this case yes I have decided i'm just gunna "fucking do it" but not just for the sake of it as mentioned above, and not right away. I am going to take a lot more time to educate myself and get it right (hopefully).

I still am not sure exactly what to do but i am almost sure an online business will be the most logical and practical since i work full time.


I have found this guy recently, Patrick Bet-David. He is an online mentor and entrepreneur. This was the first video i stumbled upon; the title grabbed my attention so i clicked it..

https://youtu.be/qgc89GEO_nE

These days every time you watch a video on YouTube you are presented with anothet "Online mentor" who can make you six figures in 12 months for only $195 per month.

Not this guy, he gives away free content on a regular basis. Yes he does have products but he is not shoving them down your throat. They are there to purchase, if you want. If not it doesn't matter.

the advice this guy gives in his videos is solid gold.


EDIT: I don't know why the fucking link wouldn't work properly using the Youtube button, so I had to edit it to the shitty looking link above

I have been feeling lately like giving up my psychology degree.

I started it in February 2013. I took a gap year this year as I was spinning plates and it started again at the beginning of October. However now my heart is set on becoming an entrepreneur.

I don't really want to quit but I feel like I'm spinning plates again. I would much rather my focus was on one serious endeavour as opposed to 2. I will complete the degree in 2018 which is still ages away - if I was persuing buisness alone who knows what I could have done in that time?

I'd almost be happy to just scrape by on the degree & even if I just pass it then so what. It started off as a career booster to help me in becoming a counsellor but I am basically only doing it as a hobby now.

This way I could focus more on entrepreneurship.

What would anyone do in my situation? Has any of you sacrificed studies before in pursuit of something potentially greater? Does anyone think I'm being bonkers again?

Never got any answers on whether I should pack the degree in.

Of course, I'm not looking for someone to tell me what to do, that's my decision.

But some opinion would be alright.

I have a deadline of midnight tomorrow for my next assignment. Once again I am about to go to my home workspace & type out a load of bullshit by randomly picking "relevant" shit from the materials in hope of a pass.

Is there any fucking point in doing it if my heart is not in it?

I do still love psychology but I'm only really continuing because of the time investment I've already made, & I HATE the idea of being a quitter.

But I'd love it if I could focus ALL my spare time on entrepreneurship rather than spinning plates.

My head says ditch it but my heart says don't.

Unless you have a solid Plan B I would stick at it. And by the sounds of things you don't have a solid plan B. Keep doing it, but in the meantime use that motivation of not wanting to do it to find another path. Build up that other skill until you can turn it into $$s and then you can quit uni.

My $0.02

I am starting a business this year with a friend, we've both worked in sales. so we know how to sell a product, and i've done this particular job before too. its the first business venture i've ever been on so it would be nice to hear what you guys think, maybe my views on it all are a little warped since i think it will be fairly easy...

so we're both gonna chip in to get the best possible carpet cleaning machine, a van, and all the essential chemicals and accessories etc... also we'll budget for leafleting door to door (which is where we expect to get our initial business from), and advertising in newspapers, local magazines & relevant places.
once we have have it up and running comfortably, i am planning to branch out and go for a more hard sales approach by going to hotels, bars, restaurants, function rooms (any kind of other business with carpets & upholstery) to try and generate yearly or 6 monthly contracts by offering discounts (no idea whether this will work). also, my brother has his business working for bourne leisure (caravan "holiday camp sites" all around the country) and he knows alot of big players in that industry so i think there's some big potential for us to get in there too.

now i know its gonna take alot of hard work to get this going, there are other more established carpet cleaners in the area where we're based.

does it sound like a feasible idea? any pointers from more experienced entrepreneurs?
thanks :D

Where abouts in the UK are you from? When do you expect this business to be going live?

huddersfield, and july. there are a few other carpet cleaners in this area, cheap and upmarket. i decided to go down the green route and price myself in the middle

A good friend of mine does this in Cambridge and makes a killing with buisnesses and the university, your plan sounds good to me.

Maybe take the time to contact some people who already do it successfully and outright ask them what they wish they had known when they started? - Most smaller yet successful business owners will give the time of their day if you ask them humbly and sincerely complement their business..

Best of luck!

Respect for having a crack.
If I was you, id try to also focus on partnerships with businesses who absolutely need your services. Private & official university student halls / apartments (anything centering students is big and repeat business), estate agents (everyone of these guys has a preferred service), hotels (although the bigger will use inhouse, smaller may consider) and private (large office buildings with 50+ employees) & public complexes (government buildings, schools etc.)
Good luck bro!

this is an excellent idea, there's probably hundreds of carpet cleaners in the country so i will certainly ring as many as possible once me and my partner have sat down and are planning things more meticulously, thanks dude :D
i'll start by ringing all the carpet cleaners in cambridge and say something along the lines of "you did my grandmas carpet and she loved it, im starting up in leeds, can i pick at your brain for a couple minutes?" haha we'll see if i speak to your mate.

yes this is the plan once we are established, i think to begin with we will focus on residential work as we will only have 1 machine and its easier to generate work (i'll focus on marketing while my partner will focus on the graft), and will need to build capital for another vehicle and machine, but once we have 2, i will approach as many types of businesses as i can think of! the list keeps growing! since we are using a "green" selling point, we'll also be aiming at daycare centres, schools, vets, hospitals... anywhere eco-friendly is crucial.

i think the green selling point is also a good angle to work while aiming at more affluent and upmarket customers, so posh estate agents & restaurants, golf clubs etc. as we can charge a premium and earn some decent mullah :D

its all ideas for now though but i can't wait to get started. thanks guys!

Didn't realise you were starting up in Leeds, might need mine doing when I move in May/June!

haha i'd be glad to! and since you're in leeds and a member of the pua forum we can join forces and go on pussy hunts together ;)

Haha I am in a LTR mate, I could potentially go out and wing but I still enjoy the validation of it all and need to be careful where to draw the line lol..

haha good man, i'll give you a shout when im moved up there, im travelling around the country working for the next couple of months

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Im very interested in starting up my own business. Thing is, I dont know many people who have, so Im kind of stuck.

Im looking to start an IT support company, providing low-cost IT support to small businesses, those who cant afford an IT person.

Id be willing to run this from home, but have no idea of the legal implications etc.

Ive read the business link website, and other similar things but it all just looks very similar, I want to hear from someone whos gone and done it...

Can anyone help?