People who run their own companies.......
Discussion
I think most people who run thier own companies set them up doing the same thing they already do for a living for someone else.
Obviously there are many exceptions, but it is a massive springboard to know the industry, know the potential clients, know the selling points of a given product.
FUrther, if you know the above, then you can make a much better business case to a bank as to how you can justify turnover/porofit projections etc and if it looks good enough then they will lend you money (or would when we set up)
COnversely- going to the bank and saying
"Im setting up a sweet shop and in my first yeat sales will be 100k"
"What are you basing that on?"
"THe fatness of my local kids"
is not going to get you a great deal of money.
Obviously there are many exceptions, but it is a massive springboard to know the industry, know the potential clients, know the selling points of a given product.
FUrther, if you know the above, then you can make a much better business case to a bank as to how you can justify turnover/porofit projections etc and if it looks good enough then they will lend you money (or would when we set up)
COnversely- going to the bank and saying
"Im setting up a sweet shop and in my first yeat sales will be 100k"
"What are you basing that on?"
"THe fatness of my local kids"
is not going to get you a great deal of money.
blindswelledrat said:
COnversely- going to the bank and saying
"Im setting up a sweet shop and in my first yeat sales will be 100k"
"What are you basing that on?"
"THe fatness of my local kids"
is not going to get you a great deal of money.
To be honest, that's a better business plan than some I see"Im setting up a sweet shop and in my first yeat sales will be 100k"
"What are you basing that on?"
"THe fatness of my local kids"
is not going to get you a great deal of money.
dirty boy said:
blindswelledrat said:
COnversely- going to the bank and saying
"Im setting up a sweet shop and in my first yeat sales will be 100k"
"What are you basing that on?"
"THe fatness of my local kids"
is not going to get you a great deal of money.
To be honest, that's a better business plan than some I see"Im setting up a sweet shop and in my first yeat sales will be 100k"
"What are you basing that on?"
"THe fatness of my local kids"
is not going to get you a great deal of money.
WorAl said:
What does your company do? What gave you the inclination? how did you learn about the product? HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THE MONEY TO START?
I have a million ideas in my head, just dont have the knowledge or the money to put into any of them.
IT support for small businesses.I have a million ideas in my head, just dont have the knowledge or the money to put into any of them.
Redundancy.
Years at college, then vendor specific courses.
Sold the Porka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T13J-A1ATQ&fea...
or for a more historical perspective
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3tjVHQLQ4
HTH
I'm not sure knowledge is key. It is my belief that if you can run a business well, you can run any business well.
I started a company in 1998 in an industry I had no interest or experince in, but I saw an opportunity. In the process, I learned all about the industry because I had no choice.
I started a company in 1998 in an industry I had no interest or experince in, but I saw an opportunity. In the process, I learned all about the industry because I had no choice.
Edited by Doofus on Tuesday 12th January 14:29
We got the money to start up our companies by working f
king hard, and unbelieveable hours to start with (still a lot more than is considered normal now). Saved up and purchased our first carpet cleaning machine, and built up from there.
Then one of us left our full time job, built the business up some more, then my business partner left full time work.
We effectively worked for "free" while doing evenings and weekends working our full time jobs, as a result, we now have absoutely no debt whatsoever and an expanding business.
There was more to it than just the above, suffice it so say the path we took was very hard graft and don't expect yourself to be pulling a £70k salary from setting up - sounds like an obvious and almost patronizing comment, however I am shocked by the amount of people that I personally know, who fail by killing the company by trying to pull a huge salary, then jump out of their skin when the tax bill comes in...
king hard, and unbelieveable hours to start with (still a lot more than is considered normal now). Saved up and purchased our first carpet cleaning machine, and built up from there.Then one of us left our full time job, built the business up some more, then my business partner left full time work.
We effectively worked for "free" while doing evenings and weekends working our full time jobs, as a result, we now have absoutely no debt whatsoever and an expanding business.
There was more to it than just the above, suffice it so say the path we took was very hard graft and don't expect yourself to be pulling a £70k salary from setting up - sounds like an obvious and almost patronizing comment, however I am shocked by the amount of people that I personally know, who fail by killing the company by trying to pull a huge salary, then jump out of their skin when the tax bill comes in...
I help run the company as a Director and owner.
We got the money to start by being about 30 and having saved hard from about age 20.
We kept costs low and all lived off our savings for the first year. By the second year we were getting paid to come to work. Third year it became successful - a lot more successful than recently I have to say.
Key things helped the business to work and grow back then. We had a good team of people. We knew good people we wanted to recruit. We had three or four killer product ideas in a row and sold into a market we all knew well.
The products were all software and so once you've developed it there's no incremental cost in shipping it. Development was all done by in-house resources (i.e. US) who worked "for free" until we could pay.
We got the money to start by being about 30 and having saved hard from about age 20.
We kept costs low and all lived off our savings for the first year. By the second year we were getting paid to come to work. Third year it became successful - a lot more successful than recently I have to say.
Key things helped the business to work and grow back then. We had a good team of people. We knew good people we wanted to recruit. We had three or four killer product ideas in a row and sold into a market we all knew well.
The products were all software and so once you've developed it there's no incremental cost in shipping it. Development was all done by in-house resources (i.e. US) who worked "for free" until we could pay.
If you can grow organically, i.e. without hocking everything to own to the bank, you can tell them to stuff the loans that they keep offering you when times are good, and know that they cannot pull the rug out when they're not. That does feel good! The downside is that organically grown companies don't grow very quickly and you have to go without an income for a while to get them off the ground.
As has been mentioned, the majority come from an environment where they know their product/service inside out already and are just not prepared to see their employer take most of the profit and credit any longer.
I had a Client who told me 10 years ago that I should be doing what I did for myself. He guided me with the set-up of VAT, accounting procedures etc. and backed me in a small way with a little £. All worked out great for all concerned thankfully. It's been hard graft but anything beats working for someone else. Be hyper-critical of your idea and if it's still got legs then go for it. (even send me your business plan and I'll have a look in confidence if you want an opinion)
Best.
Ali
I had a Client who told me 10 years ago that I should be doing what I did for myself. He guided me with the set-up of VAT, accounting procedures etc. and backed me in a small way with a little £. All worked out great for all concerned thankfully. It's been hard graft but anything beats working for someone else. Be hyper-critical of your idea and if it's still got legs then go for it. (even send me your business plan and I'll have a look in confidence if you want an opinion)
Best.
Ali
WorAl said:
What does your company do?
IT and business process risk management for companies running SAP systems. WorAl said:
What gave you the inclination?
Decided that doing the job for other people didn't give me the lifestyle I wanted.WorAl said:
how did you learn about the product?
I had been doing consultancy in the area for 6 years previously.WorAl said:
HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THE MONEY TO START?
Knowledge based services are reasonably easy to sell on a budget. As you are not making anything physical there is no need to pay for premises, tooling, product development, storage, logistics etc.My business partner & I sold ourselves onto projects and then started looking for other projects where they needed similar skills to ours. We pitched for the work, won some of it and filled those gaps with contractors initially. Now have a mixture of contractors and permies to deliver the services.
Costs up front were about £500 for a website & a few £k to pay our personal bills for the first few months. The website was cheap as we used some friends of friends who were developing their portfolio. We have done the same for PR and some legal fees.
WorAl said:
I have a million ideas in my head, just dont have the knowledge or the money to put into any of them.
Hard work will make up for some deficit in both those areas. I know plenty of self employed people who are pretty daft on the face of it but work their arses off. BliarOut said:
WorAl said:
What does your company do? What gave you the inclination? how did you learn about the product? HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THE MONEY TO START?
I have a million ideas in my head, just dont have the knowledge or the money to put into any of them.
IT support for small businesses.I have a million ideas in my head, just dont have the knowledge or the money to put into any of them.
Redundancy.
Years at college, then vendor specific courses.
Sold the Porka
A lot of hard work involved, you need a real desire or motivation to succeed and determination not to fail. If it is in an industry you know that helps. Join as many networking groups as you can to get your name around and never stitch your clients up because that will get around even quicker.
Our motto is: The answer is yes of course Sir, now what was the question? Look after your clients because they are the best advert for your business.
Started young (20) so I didn't have many overheads, just the bank loan and some rent. Worked stupidly hard for virtually nothing for the first few years and sacrificed doing all the things my friends were enjoying. Eventually it paid off.
If your thinking of having a go I'd say definitely try it but unless you get very lucky (or are moving into something that is already established) it is going to be a struggle, the majority fail or give up.
Doesn't mean you will though, good luck.
If your thinking of having a go I'd say definitely try it but unless you get very lucky (or are moving into something that is already established) it is going to be a struggle, the majority fail or give up.
Doesn't mean you will though, good luck.
dirty boy said:
blindswelledrat said:
COnversely- going to the bank and saying
"Im setting up a sweet shop and in my first yeat sales will be 100k"
"What are you basing that on?"
"THe fatness of my local kids"
is not going to get you a great deal of money.
To be honest, that's a better business plan than some I see"Im setting up a sweet shop and in my first yeat sales will be 100k"
"What are you basing that on?"
"THe fatness of my local kids"
is not going to get you a great deal of money.
WorAl said:
HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THE MONEY TO START?
.
It is a matter of priorities. Did you borrow money for a car? .
Did you borrow money for a house?
If you answer yes to both of these then even if you have the start up money your initial cash flow would probably not be enough to service your existing debt.
I know that is not very helpful but it is a reality.
The best time to start a business is when you still live with your parents.
Next best is before having kids, use you wifes salary to meet current obligations. Assuming you are both on the same page.
But there is no reason why, if you do your sums, liquidate some assets and are prepared for a frugal life for a while you couldn't get something up and running.
But, you will encounter employees, that think you are an idiot, that think they could run your business better than you. Ever increasing paper work so fat arse civil servants can justify their existance and provide meaningless statistics for politicians so they can justify theirs.
From a wealth standpoint, I would probably be better off if I had stayed employed.
Wealth isn't everything, satisfaction, flexibility, "are you free to go XXXXXXX on Tuesday?" "yep, sure" I don't need to ask anyone for a day off.
And of course no rush hour travel.
And the abilty to start sentences with "And" and "But" because you don't have to worry about some icehole in personel checking your spelling when applying for a job
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff