What would you do in my situation (going it alone)
Discussion
Morning all - been deliberating over this for a while now and need some decent advice, which PH seems to be as good a place as any for. I've changed from my normal ID for obvious reasons.
Post is a bit long, so bear with me. The back story is all relevant to the point I get to in the end!
A bit of background - I am 30 years old and work as a project manager for a main contractor in the construction industry. The company I work for at the minute is small, privately owned and turns over about £20 million and made a small profit last year - we will call them Company A. Before that I worked for a top 5 national contractor with a turnover in excess of £1 billion - we will call them Company B.
I joined Company A around 6 months ago, having been with Company B for 10 years. A big part of my leaving Company B was that I have some very strong family links to the construction industry through my father, who is a very influential character in the care home sector, particularly dementia care, having sat on Government advisory bodies and spoken all round the world in this field. A number of years ago he set up a friend of his in business as a client side Project Manager and Cost Advisor and has since, largely through hanging off my father's coat tails, become the "go-to guy" if you want to build a care home or private hospital anywhere in the country.
For obvious reasons both of our families have become very close. When I was with Company B for a long time I was trying to get them to sit down with my father and his advisor to talk about developing working relationships, which (largely because of their size and dependency on Government contracts) they were never interested in doing. This made me realise that the opportunity for the low-level workers to get involved in the Business Development side of things at Company B was next to nil, which is something I have always wanted to do and thought I would be good at. Aside from this chap, I had built up an excellent network of contacts on all sides of the fence.
Around Christmas time this year I was approached through an agency by Company A enquiring as to my availability. Because I was working away at the time with a new baby, and taking into consideration my dis-heartened state for the reasons above, amongst others, I decided to talk to Company A. I was interviewed by one of the 3 equity directors, but not the MD. I did my research into the company and their reputation was very good, and even though still small, it is clear that they want the company to grow. During the interview process I made it clear to the director interviewing me that I had some excellent contacts that I wanted to be able to sit down with to try to get work through the door, which they were overjoyed with and said they were happy for me to do. Largely based on this, I decided to join Company A and was excited about my new opportunity.
When negotiating my package I re-iterated the fact that I believed I could bring what would be to a company of their size, significant turnover and opportunity, and with that in mind asked whether there was the option of me acquiring a small equity stake in the business, which was flatly refused. At the time, I was told to basically deliver on what I had said I thought I could do, and if I delivered there may be an opportunity to get an equity share in the future. With hindsight, I should have got this written into my contract somehow, which is me showing my naivety at such situations!
Fast forward a couple of months to when I joined Company A. In the meantime I had spoken to my contact above and told him of my discussions with Company A, and effectively that I needed his help a bit. He was delighted with this and said that we should set up a meeting with me and him as soon as I started with the new company to talk about potential opportunities, which I did. However, as soon as this was done and I actually joined the company the MD took over and I was completely cut out of the loop. Since then the MD has tried to glean information from me on the sector this guy and my father operate in, which I have been reluctant to share given the fact I was cut out of that loop.
Since then, Company A have won 2 contracts from my contact to the value of £15 million. Everytime I speak to this chap outside of work he talks to me about these contracts as if he has done me a favour by awarding us the contracts as he thinks I have been involved in them and does not know they cut me out of the loop.
So, the above has put my nose out of joint as they have basically gone back against what was probably the deciding factor in my decision to join them.
I am now in a situation where a 2nd good contact of mine wants to talk to me about undertaking a contract for him, probably to the value of £2 million, privately funded. He has approached me directly to do this without knowing anything about the company I now work for. My normal way of thinking would be to develop this relationship through my new company, but then I think why should they get the benefit of another one of my contacts without any gain to me?
Which is when I get to the point of thinking should I take the leap and set up my own company? This has long been an ambition of mine and one I have discussed at length with my initial contact - his advice has always been to go for it, and that getting the first job under your belt is the difficult part. Again, he has often said if I did set up on my own and once I had done a project elsewhere, he would add me to his list of suppliers.
So in my mind, if I can agree with the second contract to undertake his project, I have jumped the first hurdle and would have further opportunities available to me through the original contact.
A lot of people would probably just go for it, but I am quite a risk averse person. I have an 11 month old baby and a mortgage to pay, which is the biggest frightener for me. Regardless of my state of mind with Company A I am in a comfortable position and earning a good salary for someone of my age - if I don't take the leap at some point will the opportunity have passed me by and will I regret it?
My head really is in a spin so I would appreciate any thoughts from anyone who has been in a similar situation.
And thanks to anyone who got to the end of the post!
Post is a bit long, so bear with me. The back story is all relevant to the point I get to in the end!
A bit of background - I am 30 years old and work as a project manager for a main contractor in the construction industry. The company I work for at the minute is small, privately owned and turns over about £20 million and made a small profit last year - we will call them Company A. Before that I worked for a top 5 national contractor with a turnover in excess of £1 billion - we will call them Company B.
I joined Company A around 6 months ago, having been with Company B for 10 years. A big part of my leaving Company B was that I have some very strong family links to the construction industry through my father, who is a very influential character in the care home sector, particularly dementia care, having sat on Government advisory bodies and spoken all round the world in this field. A number of years ago he set up a friend of his in business as a client side Project Manager and Cost Advisor and has since, largely through hanging off my father's coat tails, become the "go-to guy" if you want to build a care home or private hospital anywhere in the country.
For obvious reasons both of our families have become very close. When I was with Company B for a long time I was trying to get them to sit down with my father and his advisor to talk about developing working relationships, which (largely because of their size and dependency on Government contracts) they were never interested in doing. This made me realise that the opportunity for the low-level workers to get involved in the Business Development side of things at Company B was next to nil, which is something I have always wanted to do and thought I would be good at. Aside from this chap, I had built up an excellent network of contacts on all sides of the fence.
Around Christmas time this year I was approached through an agency by Company A enquiring as to my availability. Because I was working away at the time with a new baby, and taking into consideration my dis-heartened state for the reasons above, amongst others, I decided to talk to Company A. I was interviewed by one of the 3 equity directors, but not the MD. I did my research into the company and their reputation was very good, and even though still small, it is clear that they want the company to grow. During the interview process I made it clear to the director interviewing me that I had some excellent contacts that I wanted to be able to sit down with to try to get work through the door, which they were overjoyed with and said they were happy for me to do. Largely based on this, I decided to join Company A and was excited about my new opportunity.
When negotiating my package I re-iterated the fact that I believed I could bring what would be to a company of their size, significant turnover and opportunity, and with that in mind asked whether there was the option of me acquiring a small equity stake in the business, which was flatly refused. At the time, I was told to basically deliver on what I had said I thought I could do, and if I delivered there may be an opportunity to get an equity share in the future. With hindsight, I should have got this written into my contract somehow, which is me showing my naivety at such situations!
Fast forward a couple of months to when I joined Company A. In the meantime I had spoken to my contact above and told him of my discussions with Company A, and effectively that I needed his help a bit. He was delighted with this and said that we should set up a meeting with me and him as soon as I started with the new company to talk about potential opportunities, which I did. However, as soon as this was done and I actually joined the company the MD took over and I was completely cut out of the loop. Since then the MD has tried to glean information from me on the sector this guy and my father operate in, which I have been reluctant to share given the fact I was cut out of that loop.
Since then, Company A have won 2 contracts from my contact to the value of £15 million. Everytime I speak to this chap outside of work he talks to me about these contracts as if he has done me a favour by awarding us the contracts as he thinks I have been involved in them and does not know they cut me out of the loop.
So, the above has put my nose out of joint as they have basically gone back against what was probably the deciding factor in my decision to join them.
I am now in a situation where a 2nd good contact of mine wants to talk to me about undertaking a contract for him, probably to the value of £2 million, privately funded. He has approached me directly to do this without knowing anything about the company I now work for. My normal way of thinking would be to develop this relationship through my new company, but then I think why should they get the benefit of another one of my contacts without any gain to me?
Which is when I get to the point of thinking should I take the leap and set up my own company? This has long been an ambition of mine and one I have discussed at length with my initial contact - his advice has always been to go for it, and that getting the first job under your belt is the difficult part. Again, he has often said if I did set up on my own and once I had done a project elsewhere, he would add me to his list of suppliers.
So in my mind, if I can agree with the second contract to undertake his project, I have jumped the first hurdle and would have further opportunities available to me through the original contact.
A lot of people would probably just go for it, but I am quite a risk averse person. I have an 11 month old baby and a mortgage to pay, which is the biggest frightener for me. Regardless of my state of mind with Company A I am in a comfortable position and earning a good salary for someone of my age - if I don't take the leap at some point will the opportunity have passed me by and will I regret it?
My head really is in a spin so I would appreciate any thoughts from anyone who has been in a similar situation.
And thanks to anyone who got to the end of the post!
I won't go into the heavy backstory, other than to say you should speak to your 'contact' and put the anchors on anymore work coming through Company B until you are leading the enquiry.
With regards to setting up your own business; you'll need to look into this quite heavily. Having one job lined up is great, but any investor (assuming it is required) will want a solid business plan that looks at least 5 years in advance. If you can provide a good business plan and are confident in developing a future work stream then you should probably give it a go.
Have a backup plan though. If this venture falls through, how quickly can you get another job? How will the business failing affect you personally and financially?
Just some thoughts. Good luck either way
With regards to setting up your own business; you'll need to look into this quite heavily. Having one job lined up is great, but any investor (assuming it is required) will want a solid business plan that looks at least 5 years in advance. If you can provide a good business plan and are confident in developing a future work stream then you should probably give it a go.
Have a backup plan though. If this venture falls through, how quickly can you get another job? How will the business failing affect you personally and financially?
Just some thoughts. Good luck either way
The Beaver King said:
Have a backup plan though. If this venture falls through, how quickly can you get another job? How will the business failing affect you personally and financially?
Cheers for your input.I should probably have added that because of the nature of the construction industry at the minute, if I did go it alone and fail for whatever reason, I could probably walk into another job within 2 weeks.
At the minute, I have a pot of money saved up which is circa £50k - I know there would be a risk of losing all of that, which would be a huge blow to me in the short term, but hopefully that would be enough to at least start me up and get me going.
ashton_alf said:
Cheers for your input.
I should probably have added that because of the nature of the construction industry at the minute, if I did go it alone and fail for whatever reason, I could probably walk into another job within 2 weeks.
At the minute, I have a pot of money saved up which is circa £50k - I know there would be a risk of losing all of that, which would be a huge blow to me in the short term, but hopefully that would be enough to at least start me up and get me going.
Yeah, I also work in construction and there is plenty of work for those with ability and a good track record.I should probably have added that because of the nature of the construction industry at the minute, if I did go it alone and fail for whatever reason, I could probably walk into another job within 2 weeks.
At the minute, I have a pot of money saved up which is circa £50k - I know there would be a risk of losing all of that, which would be a huge blow to me in the short term, but hopefully that would be enough to at least start me up and get me going.
It might be worth taking some of that money and talking to a business adviser to help put together a solid plan. This will also help if you find yourself running low on funds, as a bank would be more inclined to invest if you have a good business case.
Obviously without knowing the nature of the specialised area you are going into or what your business will actually deliver, it is difficult to say whether £50k is enough. Which leads me back to the business adviser point.
If your confident you have a strong idea and have the drive to see if through, then go for it. As long as you don't bankrupt yourself, you don't have much to lose, but everything to gain.
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