What prompted you to move out of the comfort zone?

[JustinP1]

SystemParanoia said:

im ready to start my own venture. the only thing stopping me is a complete lack of capital, and the inability to raise any ( banks, cc's, even loan sharks are turning me down )

dont know where im gonna get £10k from

Why do you need 10k?

There is always a way around anything!

[ginettag27]

PetrolTed said:

SystemParanoia said:

im ready to start my own venture. the only thing stopping me is a complete lack of capital, and the inability to raise any ( banks, cc's, even loan sharks are turning me down )

dont know where im gonna get £10k from

Radical suggestion in this day and age, but why not save it up?

or go on that Cash in the Attic programme on telly..

"Today we have SystemParanoia, how much do you want to generate?"

"10k"

.....

[bga]

After working for consulting firms for a few years I was getting a bit disenchanted with the whole thing. Flogging my guts out for someone else to profit from lost it's appeal.

A mate had set up on his own a couple of years previously so, along with another guy we decided to make a business of it. It started out with 3 of us and about 9 months later we now have 10-15 people out on jobs all the time & have signed deals with 3 large consultancy firms to supplement their resource pool with our guys.

Now we all pitch in with whatever is needed. I do IT, recruitment, marketing, sales - everything that is needed to make a company run & I love every minute of it. Ok, it's tiring to do company stuff after delivering a day of client work, we are all drawing very little out of the business at the moment & the car will probably have to go, but it's all worth it. Worse case scenario and it goes pear shaped then we can go contracting or perm again until the next project. The main thing is that it's in our control & if it goes to plan, will give us options to do something different in a few years time.

[Stephanie Plum]

SuperKartRacer said:

Golfman said:

Muppets...

And forgot to say I'm high up in the largest print/graphics group in the uk we turnover half billion a year so not an easy one

Chimp :-)

Edited by SuperKartRacer on Wednesday 5th December 21:05

Turnover half billion. That gives me a clue.......... care to tell us your profit margin?

[MGYoung]

Interesting thread.............

I have a decent job in the construction industry have sufficient investments to pay off my mortgage (only just mind). I thought about starting up on my own a while back but as has been noted by a number of people already, making the break after you have spent time developing your career is difficult. I'm 32 with 10 years post grad experience under my belt. No kids to worry about.

If I paid off the mortgage and kept my outgoings to sensible levels then I wouldn't need a high income to survive. Of course I also need to think about pension, healthcare, holidas etc. Perhaps I'll wait another year so that I can save a bit more.

[SystemParanoia]

JustinP1 said:

SystemParanoia said:

im ready to start my own venture. the only thing stopping me is a complete lack of capital, and the inability to raise any ( banks, cc's, even loan sharks are turning me down )

dont know where im gonna get £10k from

Why do you need 10k?

There is always a way around anything!

the main outlay will be the cost to get a ( reliable small ) van ( berlingo, corsa ), then a small ammount of stock, and the rest will be blown on google adwords, flyer drops and running costs. ( 24hr business run from home )

got it all planned out, and im currently in negotiations with a few places that should enable me to start up with nothing more than the car i have now ( piece of crap citroen zx ) and a hope and a prayer ( but this method means product costs will be high to the end user as ill be paying a premium cost-of-sales )

if the princes trust and business link let me down, then thats the way im going to have to go

[emicen]

SystemParanoia said:

JustinP1 said:

SystemParanoia said:

im ready to start my own venture. the only thing stopping me is a complete lack of capital, and the inability to raise any ( banks, cc's, even loan sharks are turning me down )

dont know where im gonna get £10k from

Why do you need 10k?

There is always a way around anything!

the main outlay will be the cost to get a ( reliable small ) van ( berlingo, corsa ), then a small ammount of stock, and the rest will be blown on google adwords, flyer drops and running costs. ( 24hr business run from home )

got it all planned out, and im currently in negotiations with a few places that should enable me to start up with nothing more than the car i have now ( piece of crap citroen zx ) and a hope and a prayer ( but this method means product costs will be high to the end user as ill be paying a premium cost-of-sales )

if the princes trust and business link let me down, then thats the way im going to have to go

Ex-Royal mail 1.3 CDTi Combi vans (corsa van on steroids) are available for very little.

Leasing one is also an option.

[PetrolTed]

Good luck chap. As Justin said earlier you can achieve great thing without spending money if you put your mind to it. Necessity is the mother of invention etc.

[PetrolTed]

MGYoung said:

If I paid off the mortgage and kept my outgoings to sensible levels then I wouldn't need a high income to survive. Of course I also need to think about pension, healthcare, holidas etc. Perhaps I'll wait another year so that I can save a bit more.

Tomorrow never comes.

You can gamble on pension and healthcare (they're perks!). You won't have time for holidays.

[SuperKartRacer]

Stephanie Plum said:

SuperKartRacer said:

Golfman said:

Muppets...

And forgot to say I'm high up in the largest print/graphics group in the uk we turnover half billion a year so not an easy one

Chimp :-)

Edited by SuperKartRacer on Wednesday 5th December 21:05

Turnover half billion. That gives me a clue.......... care to tell us your profit margin?

LOL Nope :-)

Nothing to do with me and I don't care as I'm not a share holder. I just help others get rich.

[mogul]

SuperKartRacer said:

Stephanie Plum said:

SuperKartRacer said:

Golfman said:

Muppets...

And forgot to say I'm high up in the largest print/graphics group in the uk we turnover half billion a year so not an easy one

Chimp :-)

Edited by SuperKartRacer on Wednesday 5th December 21:05

Turnover half billion. That gives me a clue.......... care to tell us your profit margin?

LOL Nope :-)

Nothing to do with me and I don't care as I'm not a share holder. I just help others get rich.

I started my graphics company over 10 years ago, T/O over 7 figures fantastic profit margin - do you want make me an offer and make some money for yourself?

[NoelWatson]

bga said:

After working for consulting firms for a few years I was getting a bit disenchanted with the whole thing. Flogging my guts out for someone else to profit from lost it's appeal.

A mate had set up on his own a couple of years previously so, along with another guy we decided to make a business of it. It started out with 3 of us and about 9 months later we now have 10-15 people out on jobs all the time & have signed deals with 3 large consultancy firms to supplement their resource pool with our guys.

Now we all pitch in with whatever is needed. I do IT, recruitment, marketing, sales - everything that is needed to make a company run & I love every minute of it. Ok, it's tiring to do company stuff after delivering a day of client work, we are all drawing very little out of the business at the moment & the car will probably have to go, but it's all worth it. Worse case scenario and it goes pear shaped then we can go contracting or perm again until the next project. The main thing is that it's in our control & if it goes to plan, will give us options to do something different in a few years time.

Sounds like something I've always wanted to do after working for a consultancy and seeing how much they made out of me. I always thought the hardest part would be at the beginning in getting the first contract. Currently contracting and am quite happy but part of me hopes that one day I will try and expand.

[bga]

NoelWatson said:

Sounds like something I've always wanted to do after working for a consultancy and seeing how much they made out of me. I always thought the hardest part would be at the beginning in getting the first contract. Currently contracting and am quite happy but part of me hopes that one day I will try and expand.

Good luck with it! Feel free to PM me if you have any Q's or just want a chat about it.

If you are contracting now then it doesn't have to be a huge leap. IMO easiest way is to see a role that is required & using your network (or jobserve!) to find someone to fill it. To start off, you can generally undercut an agency and you can do what they can't - validate a CV and perform a tech interview before you put a candidate in front of a client.

Once you have placed a couple of people and have a list of good resources you can call on then it offers projects another option.

[SuperKartRacer]

mogul said:

SuperKartRacer said:

Stephanie Plum said:

SuperKartRacer said:

Golfman said:

Muppets...

And forgot to say I'm high up in the largest print/graphics group in the uk we turnover half billion a year so not an easy one

Chimp :-)

Edited by SuperKartRacer on Wednesday 5th December 21:05

Turnover half billion. That gives me a clue.......... care to tell us your profit margin?

LOL Nope :-)

Nothing to do with me and I don't care as I'm not a share holder. I just help others get rich.

I started my graphics company over 10 years ago, T/O over 7 figures fantastic profit margin - do you want make me an offer and make some money for yourself?

Hmm, interesting. What area of graphics are you in out of interest.

[SystemParanoia]

PetrolTed said:

Good luck chap. As Justin said earlier you can achieve great thing without spending money if you put your mind to it. Necessity is the mother of invention etc.

thanks!

i'll need it!

[mogul]

SuperKartRacer said:

mogul said:

SuperKartRacer said:

Stephanie Plum said:

SuperKartRacer said:

Golfman said:

Muppets...

And forgot to say I'm high up in the largest print/graphics group in the uk we turnover half billion a year so not an easy one

Chimp :-)

Edited by SuperKartRacer on Wednesday 5th December 21:05

Turnover half billion. That gives me a clue.......... care to tell us your profit margin?

LOL Nope :-)

Nothing to do with me and I don't care as I'm not a share holder. I just help others get rich.

I started my graphics company over 10 years ago, T/O over 7 figures fantastic profit margin - do you want make me an offer and make some money for yourself?

Hmm, interesting. What area of graphics are you in out of interest.

Large format printing
Portable display systems
Modular display systems
etc etc

Right at the top end of the market, not interested in selling cheap on the interweb as I believe you get what you pay for in this world.

We had our best month ever last month even with talk of a possible recession - not sure what's going on really...

[ukvoyager.info]

I was pretty miserable at my last company. I had a boss who couldn't make decisions, got in my way and gave me a hard time.

Fortunately I went on a 'Leadership Trust' course which really built up my confidence and self belief. 6 months later I resigned and was going to start up on my own. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I went back. 6 months later (again) it was the same sh1t but different day so resigned (again), only this time I didn't bottle it!

1 year on, I am working harder and longer than I have ever done, making a good living and building up real value in the business. Ever gone to work, looked busy and achieved fcuk all? Not any more.

I am looking to exit in a couple of years and start something else... I just cant decide which one of my big list of things to do next!

[Exigeowner]

For me I had wanted to leave every job I had since leaving school to be my own boss, sounds a bid sad but even at my very early years I wanted to own my own newsagents, seemed the coolest thing ever to me at 7 years old.

Looking back I was probably fairly disruptive in the workplace a bit of a moaner and poss at times not good for staff moral, but I knew i was all talk I had all the ideas, ability but no bottle to take the leap, Finally it was taken out of my hands and I was basically sacked although with a good pay off.

Now im just finishing the end of my 4th year and although I do work harder and longer hours I do feel as though I have more time to myself and family, last week I needed to get some xmas presents so I didnt go in until about 1pm, sure i was at home working that night on and off all night but at least it was all my choices.

Anyway as a second issue to all teh business owners here how do you keep your motivation up, at the moment for some time im very posistive but I do get spells of lack of drive and a bit down at work, I have often consider some form of business or life coaching, has anybody done anything like that.

The only thing that stops me is fear of getting some nutter that wants me to sing songs and preach how much i love myslef or whatever weird things i imagine they will do.

[mouk786]

Well a lot of businesses fail and there is a lot of risk involved.

As someone else said, take calculated risks - not stupid ones. I have ahd various ideas but soemthing kept niggling me about them all. Maybe it was the FEAR!

Now I am in a new career which is fairly enjoyable workwise but doesnt pay great.

Having said that I wouldnt start my own business now as my main occupation unless it could definitley make a fair bit more than my day job (would definitley take a lot more effort!)

I spose those with skills wil lfidn it easier to work for themselves.

I have only just started bottom of the ladder in my career so cannot branch out on my own yet (or for a long time!)

[Funk]

I'm starting to get the 'business itch' but for me, the biggest question is what do I really want to do? I'm in sales, have a background in IT and advertising but all that means is I know how to make things run technically and how to pitch my service/product/offering. I don't actually have any appreciable skills or expertise in a specific market or industry.

I also have heavy debt burdens which isn't an ideal way to go into starting a business. It'll be a while before they're cleared, too. Perhaps I have more thinking to do..