Starting a business from scratch
Discussion
Hi
After some general advice from the section here. My wife is currently looking to get back to some form of employment after having our second child (2yrs and 4yrs)). Previously she has worked as a commercial manager/administrator for a large firm in the renewable energy sector in London, commuting from Hertfordshire by train.
However we have come to the conclusion that going back to work in London full time in a similar career would be very tough going without serious outlay on childcare costs and time spent commuting etc.
She has come to the decision to start up a business offering her services on a freelance/outsourced basis. The remit of these 'virtual PA' type firms seems pretty broad but for her would include chiefly commercial contract administration and management (targeting business in her sector of expertise), business/professional administrative services (targeting local SME), PA services (SME), with a strong possibility of adding bookkeeping services to help SME to meet their needs for upcoming MTD. (a post I saw on here mentioned this is a possible growth area as time poor business move away from an accountant and go fully online to platforms like xero/quickbooks etc)
Having read advice on here I have suggested starting from the offset as a limited company. We live close to a 'business incubator' so would be looking to set up the ltd address and company at the incubator as a start so there is some office space to use that isn't hugely costly in the first throes of starting up. They offer a free initial period to get things moving (3 months). Another alternative would be to use home address initially and grow into an incubator space or small serviced office down the line.
Most of the incorporation side of things I am semi familiar with (having set up a ltd company at university) however that was a long time ago, and it appears easier/quicker to do now online, with standard articles of association. In terms of SIC - 82110 "Combined office administrative service activities" seems to cover her remit, unless I am mistaken.
She would like a modern web/social media presence, and absolutely needs email/phone. Again things have moved on a lot since I last had a go at building a website.
While she is good (very) at the administration side of things, the set up side of a new business is alien to her. While I have a reasonable grasp of things, I want to make things future proof, and as easy as possible so once it is set up she can get on with winning contracts and securing new business.
Website wise we are looking at Wordpress/Squarespace, is this the most user friendly option out there? I have seen both mentioned over the past few months on similar threads and have found suitable free templates on both. What I can’t see is the domain name we want on Squarespace, but it is there on Wordpress (and available to buy on 1and1) so do I buy the domain elsewhere and link it to the Squarespace? Or am I barking up the wrong tree here and I should use something else altogether.
I think she will sign up for office 365 as this seems to offer everything she would require. Stupid question number 2, how do we assign email to the same business address as the website?
Bank account would be with Tide/Handlesbanken as we have a local branch nearby but Tide looks to be the most modern offering.
Her business plan is good so apart from the obvious pitfalls and efforts of starting a business am I missing anything that would need to be done before we can start to market the business?
Cheers for any input!
After some general advice from the section here. My wife is currently looking to get back to some form of employment after having our second child (2yrs and 4yrs)). Previously she has worked as a commercial manager/administrator for a large firm in the renewable energy sector in London, commuting from Hertfordshire by train.
However we have come to the conclusion that going back to work in London full time in a similar career would be very tough going without serious outlay on childcare costs and time spent commuting etc.
She has come to the decision to start up a business offering her services on a freelance/outsourced basis. The remit of these 'virtual PA' type firms seems pretty broad but for her would include chiefly commercial contract administration and management (targeting business in her sector of expertise), business/professional administrative services (targeting local SME), PA services (SME), with a strong possibility of adding bookkeeping services to help SME to meet their needs for upcoming MTD. (a post I saw on here mentioned this is a possible growth area as time poor business move away from an accountant and go fully online to platforms like xero/quickbooks etc)
Having read advice on here I have suggested starting from the offset as a limited company. We live close to a 'business incubator' so would be looking to set up the ltd address and company at the incubator as a start so there is some office space to use that isn't hugely costly in the first throes of starting up. They offer a free initial period to get things moving (3 months). Another alternative would be to use home address initially and grow into an incubator space or small serviced office down the line.
Most of the incorporation side of things I am semi familiar with (having set up a ltd company at university) however that was a long time ago, and it appears easier/quicker to do now online, with standard articles of association. In terms of SIC - 82110 "Combined office administrative service activities" seems to cover her remit, unless I am mistaken.
She would like a modern web/social media presence, and absolutely needs email/phone. Again things have moved on a lot since I last had a go at building a website.
While she is good (very) at the administration side of things, the set up side of a new business is alien to her. While I have a reasonable grasp of things, I want to make things future proof, and as easy as possible so once it is set up she can get on with winning contracts and securing new business.
Website wise we are looking at Wordpress/Squarespace, is this the most user friendly option out there? I have seen both mentioned over the past few months on similar threads and have found suitable free templates on both. What I can’t see is the domain name we want on Squarespace, but it is there on Wordpress (and available to buy on 1and1) so do I buy the domain elsewhere and link it to the Squarespace? Or am I barking up the wrong tree here and I should use something else altogether.
I think she will sign up for office 365 as this seems to offer everything she would require. Stupid question number 2, how do we assign email to the same business address as the website?
Bank account would be with Tide/Handlesbanken as we have a local branch nearby but Tide looks to be the most modern offering.
Her business plan is good so apart from the obvious pitfalls and efforts of starting a business am I missing anything that would need to be done before we can start to market the business?
Cheers for any input!
I would buy the domain separately from squarespace / wordpress...
if the domain is available, then any hosting company can register it for you
e.g. 1 and 1 - you buy the domain there...
then you point the A record at the hosting company (in the DNS)
and for Office 365 you set up an account and as you go through, you state that you wish to continue managing your domain - and it gives you a number of records for your DNS - you set these up in the DNS and hey presto...
domain manages through 1 and 1
website hosted by Squarespace
email through Office 365
there are some other bits you may wish to tinker with - such as updating the SPF record to include your website hosting as well as Office 365 if any emails will be sent from the website in your domain's name... but basically that is the approach...
if the domain is available, then any hosting company can register it for you
e.g. 1 and 1 - you buy the domain there...
then you point the A record at the hosting company (in the DNS)
and for Office 365 you set up an account and as you go through, you state that you wish to continue managing your domain - and it gives you a number of records for your DNS - you set these up in the DNS and hey presto...
domain manages through 1 and 1
website hosted by Squarespace
email through Office 365
there are some other bits you may wish to tinker with - such as updating the SPF record to include your website hosting as well as Office 365 if any emails will be sent from the website in your domain's name... but basically that is the approach...
Just don't DIY a website unless you know what you're doing. It'll suck up masses of your time and distract you. Write some content, find some pics and then look for a low cost company to build you a simple site with email. You can even do all you need with a one page site (you can Google examples).
I'd not bother setting up a limited company until you know she can get and keep clients. Just get a business bank account but tbh you don't even need that until you have a paying client.
Keep everything simple and low cost until you know it works.
I'd not bother setting up a limited company until you know she can get and keep clients. Just get a business bank account but tbh you don't even need that until you have a paying client.
Keep everything simple and low cost until you know it works.
Domain name; cheapest / best place I’ve found (thanks to PH) is NameCheap:
https://www.namecheap.com
Web hosting; look at hostgator; but their cheapest package and that should see you right. When booking this, they’ll ask if you already have a domain and what it is. There’s a one click install for WordPress making it a little easier. NOTE: choose a unique username when setting it up. Do. It choose ‘Admin’ or the like; hackers love generic user names. As well, once WordPress is up; login and go to plugins; delete all the plugins they’ve included in the install; and then first port of call add new plugin, ‘Wordfence’ - will stop any funny business / hackers. As another thread has shown; all too common.
https://www.hostgator.com/
Email; consider just using a Gmail address - or if you do want to use your domain, look at Gsuite. Google’s business email solution.
https://gsuite.google.co.uk/
Phone; consider booking a non geographic number / or geographic number that you can forward. This is useful, should you ever move offices, areas... your number can always stay the same. Can forward to mobiles also, all the time or in certain hours. I use telecoms world:
https://www.telecomsworldplc.co.uk/
Social media; obviously book your name on all relevant platforms; minimum I’d say is FB, Twitter, Instagram. You can consider others. Ty and make your social media handle the same across all platforms. Looks smarter.
With some tinkering, you’ll be good to go.
Once all setup; use google ads and facebooks ads to gain traction.
https://www.namecheap.com
Web hosting; look at hostgator; but their cheapest package and that should see you right. When booking this, they’ll ask if you already have a domain and what it is. There’s a one click install for WordPress making it a little easier. NOTE: choose a unique username when setting it up. Do. It choose ‘Admin’ or the like; hackers love generic user names. As well, once WordPress is up; login and go to plugins; delete all the plugins they’ve included in the install; and then first port of call add new plugin, ‘Wordfence’ - will stop any funny business / hackers. As another thread has shown; all too common.
https://www.hostgator.com/
Email; consider just using a Gmail address - or if you do want to use your domain, look at Gsuite. Google’s business email solution.
https://gsuite.google.co.uk/
Phone; consider booking a non geographic number / or geographic number that you can forward. This is useful, should you ever move offices, areas... your number can always stay the same. Can forward to mobiles also, all the time or in certain hours. I use telecoms world:
https://www.telecomsworldplc.co.uk/
Social media; obviously book your name on all relevant platforms; minimum I’d say is FB, Twitter, Instagram. You can consider others. Ty and make your social media handle the same across all platforms. Looks smarter.
With some tinkering, you’ll be good to go.
Once all setup; use google ads and facebooks ads to gain traction.
Frimley111R said:
Just don't DIY a website unless you know what you're doing. It'll suck up masses of your time and distract you. Write some content, find some pics and then look for a low cost company to build you a simple site with email. You can even do all you need with a one page site (you can Google examples).
I'd not bother setting up a limited company until you know she can get and keep clients. Just get a business bank account but tbh you don't even need that until you have a paying client.
Keep everything simple and low cost until you know it works.
This.I'd not bother setting up a limited company until you know she can get and keep clients. Just get a business bank account but tbh you don't even need that until you have a paying client.
Keep everything simple and low cost until you know it works.
Witnessed many people "playing" business and caring more about ordering ever improving business cards and websites than actually determining whether they are actually making any profit at all in the first place.
Shnozz said:
This.
Witnessed many people "playing" business and caring more about ordering ever improving business cards and websites than actually determining whether they are actually making any profit at all in the first place.
I absolutely agree with you, although I am not so sure this is a specific case of that. I am sure she is committed to this and not seeing it as a hobby, although she has mentioned there is a 'deal' on business cards to me already! Witnessed many people "playing" business and caring more about ordering ever improving business cards and websites than actually determining whether they are actually making any profit at all in the first place.
In fact researching competitors (mainly virtual PA's) in the area and then heading towards endole to see if they are going concerns, is, concerning in itself! However my reasoning (as you alluded to) is a large percentage of these will be hobby business set up by people in a similar position perhaps looking for an easy income, heading to vista print for some cards and marketing junk, and seeing what falls on their laps.
Clearly that is not going to work. Hence trying to build a strong foundation from the very start that will enable her to move forward.
For reference I designed a website for a small high street firm from scratch using CS3 and ran for a period their online side of things selling Oak Furniture.
While I am passionate about business in general, It was not specifically what I intended to get into directly post university but I made a reasonable fist of things and it was a good exercise in what was possible if you spent some time on things, learning along the way. As it happens an opportunity came up in the city not long after which was much more aligned to my career goals so I moved on.
My point is that was 11 years ago and things have changed an awful lot! My memory is also hazy! it is amazing how 11 yrs working in a corporate environment stifles certain parts of the brain!
Anyhow the new breed of 'website template's' from the usual suspects (EG squarespace) seem like a good place to start, and it looks pretty straightforward, to me. So I would have said capital spent building a basic website from a developer could be seen as a worse financial decision than me simply having a go myself.
I feel its a chicken and egg scenario. My wife has been out of work for 2 years, so going fresh into any corporation small or large and plying her wares without a web presence/official looking set up would seem like commercial suicide for someone punting administration services. Especially considering how easy things seem on the face of it.
I also think from her perspective she would feel more confident doing things that way round. That way she can focus on what is likely to be the hard work of winning contracts.
In actual fact I think my input is certainly more hobbyist than hers (it has certainly re-ignited my desire to run a business) which is why I am prepared, or at least trying, to do get her to that stage she can crack on with my limited previous knowledge. It also means its a good exercise for me personally, because I have another idea up my sleeve to which this experience will be most relevant.
LDN said:
Domain name; cheapest / best place I’ve found (thanks to PH) is NameCheap:
https://www.namecheap.com
Web hosting; look at hostgator; but their cheapest package and that should see you right. When booking this, they’ll ask if you already have a domain and what it is. There’s a one click install for WordPress making it a little easier. NOTE: choose a unique username when setting it up. Do. It choose ‘Admin’ or the like; hackers love generic user names. As well, once WordPress is up; login and go to plugins; delete all the plugins they’ve included in the install; and then first port of call add new plugin, ‘Wordfence’ - will stop any funny business / hackers. As another thread has shown; all too common.
https://www.hostgator.com/
Email; consider just using a Gmail address - or if you do want to use your domain, look at Gsuite. Google’s business email solution.
https://gsuite.google.co.uk/
Phone; consider booking a non geographic number / or geographic number that you can forward. This is useful, should you ever move offices, areas... your number can always stay the same. Can forward to mobiles also, all the time or in certain hours. I use telecoms world:
https://www.telecomsworldplc.co.uk/
Social media; obviously book your name on all relevant platforms; minimum I’d say is FB, Twitter, Instagram. You can consider others. Ty and make your social media handle the same across all platforms. Looks smarter.
With some tinkering, you’ll be good to go.
Once all setup; use google ads and facebooks ads to gain traction.
This has summarised it nicely.Thank you https://www.namecheap.com
Web hosting; look at hostgator; but their cheapest package and that should see you right. When booking this, they’ll ask if you already have a domain and what it is. There’s a one click install for WordPress making it a little easier. NOTE: choose a unique username when setting it up. Do. It choose ‘Admin’ or the like; hackers love generic user names. As well, once WordPress is up; login and go to plugins; delete all the plugins they’ve included in the install; and then first port of call add new plugin, ‘Wordfence’ - will stop any funny business / hackers. As another thread has shown; all too common.
https://www.hostgator.com/
Email; consider just using a Gmail address - or if you do want to use your domain, look at Gsuite. Google’s business email solution.
https://gsuite.google.co.uk/
Phone; consider booking a non geographic number / or geographic number that you can forward. This is useful, should you ever move offices, areas... your number can always stay the same. Can forward to mobiles also, all the time or in certain hours. I use telecoms world:
https://www.telecomsworldplc.co.uk/
Social media; obviously book your name on all relevant platforms; minimum I’d say is FB, Twitter, Instagram. You can consider others. Ty and make your social media handle the same across all platforms. Looks smarter.
With some tinkering, you’ll be good to go.
Once all setup; use google ads and facebooks ads to gain traction.
CB07 said:
LDN said:
Domain name; cheapest / best place I’ve found (thanks to PH) is NameCheap:
https://www.namecheap.com
Web hosting; look at hostgator; but their cheapest package and that should see you right. When booking this, they’ll ask if you already have a domain and what it is. There’s a one click install for WordPress making it a little easier. NOTE: choose a unique username when setting it up. Do. It choose ‘Admin’ or the like; hackers love generic user names. As well, once WordPress is up; login and go to plugins; delete all the plugins they’ve included in the install; and then first port of call add new plugin, ‘Wordfence’ - will stop any funny business / hackers. As another thread has shown; all too common.
https://www.hostgator.com/
Email; consider just using a Gmail address - or if you do want to use your domain, look at Gsuite. Google’s business email solution.
https://gsuite.google.co.uk/
Phone; consider booking a non geographic number / or geographic number that you can forward. This is useful, should you ever move offices, areas... your number can always stay the same. Can forward to mobiles also, all the time or in certain hours. I use telecoms world:
https://www.telecomsworldplc.co.uk/
Social media; obviously book your name on all relevant platforms; minimum I’d say is FB, Twitter, Instagram. You can consider others. Ty and make your social media handle the same across all platforms. Looks smarter.
With some tinkering, you’ll be good to go.
Once all setup; use google ads and facebooks ads to gain traction.
This has summarised it nicely.Thank you https://www.namecheap.com
Web hosting; look at hostgator; but their cheapest package and that should see you right. When booking this, they’ll ask if you already have a domain and what it is. There’s a one click install for WordPress making it a little easier. NOTE: choose a unique username when setting it up. Do. It choose ‘Admin’ or the like; hackers love generic user names. As well, once WordPress is up; login and go to plugins; delete all the plugins they’ve included in the install; and then first port of call add new plugin, ‘Wordfence’ - will stop any funny business / hackers. As another thread has shown; all too common.
https://www.hostgator.com/
Email; consider just using a Gmail address - or if you do want to use your domain, look at Gsuite. Google’s business email solution.
https://gsuite.google.co.uk/
Phone; consider booking a non geographic number / or geographic number that you can forward. This is useful, should you ever move offices, areas... your number can always stay the same. Can forward to mobiles also, all the time or in certain hours. I use telecoms world:
https://www.telecomsworldplc.co.uk/
Social media; obviously book your name on all relevant platforms; minimum I’d say is FB, Twitter, Instagram. You can consider others. Ty and make your social media handle the same across all platforms. Looks smarter.
With some tinkering, you’ll be good to go.
Once all setup; use google ads and facebooks ads to gain traction.
nothing looks more amateur than one domain for a website and a totally different gmail address
if serious about the business, then office 365 is a very cheap way into professional email solutions
akirk said:
don't use gmail - unless you plan to use your domain through it...
nothing looks more amateur than one domain for a website and a totally different gmail address
if serious about the business, then office 365 is a very cheap way into professional email solutions
I agree to some extent; but google does let you use your own domain.nothing looks more amateur than one domain for a website and a totally different gmail address
if serious about the business, then office 365 is a very cheap way into professional email solutions
As for normal Gmail; maybe it’s industry specific but, plenty of companies in the music / film industries just use a Gmail address. The more common it is; the more it seems accepted.
But overall, I’d agree.
I set up a consultancy business in the 80's and grew it to over 100 people before i moved on. I'm not going to comment on current marketing through the internet and such things, but from a business viewpoint, I advise get your first customer with minimal outlay, I set up from home with a dedicated office in the house, with decent letter head and cards a dedicated phone line. Minimum cash outlay, only latter renting office etc.
I got my first customer through personal contact, and door knocking, and built from there.
I'm not sure people looking for the services you describe would look at web sites, I wouldn't I'd probably talk to some one I knew, take advice from my auditor etc, but as I said I'm out of date.
What you need to do is have a plan with time allocated to the business and marketing, that's easier if you can afford a office, I used to lock myself away on the phone, allocate time to visit potential clients.
I got my first customer through personal contact, and door knocking, and built from there.
I'm not sure people looking for the services you describe would look at web sites, I wouldn't I'd probably talk to some one I knew, take advice from my auditor etc, but as I said I'm out of date.
What you need to do is have a plan with time allocated to the business and marketing, that's easier if you can afford a office, I used to lock myself away on the phone, allocate time to visit potential clients.
You/she might want to take a step back for a minute and, rather than digging in to the details of all the pizzazz, simply go and "do the do". Get some leads, get the first client and go and do a bit of work for them. I always think the "I need to start a business" approach is wrong, rather than the "I appear to have started a business" approach.
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