Starting your own business. If I can do it...
Discussion
Thanks for your input, some big success stories here.
Good point re taking on new staff. It's vital that the first 1 or 2 are great hires.
It's actually no different to the gamble I took in starting out on my own.
I've done it before, no reason why it shouldn't work.. but... !!!!
I also give up my kushty life I have now! Long dog walks in the middle of the day, Mondays with my lad!!!
It's interesting what pushes us on, often to the detriment of valuable parts of our lives...
Good point re taking on new staff. It's vital that the first 1 or 2 are great hires.
It's actually no different to the gamble I took in starting out on my own.
I've done it before, no reason why it shouldn't work.. but... !!!!
I also give up my kushty life I have now! Long dog walks in the middle of the day, Mondays with my lad!!!
It's interesting what pushes us on, often to the detriment of valuable parts of our lives...
My business partner and I started with about £15k of investment in April last year. It was two of us, then 3 and so on. We've now got 8 and just hired 2 more.
The main pointers for me are to have clients lined up with commitment and an understanding that cashflow is all important to you. Don't underestimate how much time will be taken up running the business as opposed to developing it. Don't be afraid to cut difficult staff, even if you think being without them will be an inconvenience/set back, as culture and atmosphere are crucial to momentum.
Basic stuff, but always manage expectations in all directions- better to outperform your figures for investors, give pay rises early for staff, deliver under budget/time for clients and so on.
We made a reasonably profitable t/o of £1m in the first year and are on target to quadruple that this tax year. But we're only as good as our last week.
The main pointers for me are to have clients lined up with commitment and an understanding that cashflow is all important to you. Don't underestimate how much time will be taken up running the business as opposed to developing it. Don't be afraid to cut difficult staff, even if you think being without them will be an inconvenience/set back, as culture and atmosphere are crucial to momentum.
Basic stuff, but always manage expectations in all directions- better to outperform your figures for investors, give pay rises early for staff, deliver under budget/time for clients and so on.
We made a reasonably profitable t/o of £1m in the first year and are on target to quadruple that this tax year. But we're only as good as our last week.
I left my job in IT as it didn't pay the childcare, and there was a lot of travelling and built a house and looked after the kids in the first 3 years of "retirement".
5 years later I started a gardening business with someone who proved to be a liar, first fail. 10 years later....
I got into running, and met someone who was already successful with 2 businesses and very IT literate and we started timing running races for our local running club. We were initially 3 in the partnership with a friend of mine, but the friend proved to be unsuitable and after an bit of wrangling we are back to 2 running the business and it is just growing and growing. Hard work, but exciting.
5 years later I started a gardening business with someone who proved to be a liar, first fail. 10 years later....
I got into running, and met someone who was already successful with 2 businesses and very IT literate and we started timing running races for our local running club. We were initially 3 in the partnership with a friend of mine, but the friend proved to be unsuitable and after an bit of wrangling we are back to 2 running the business and it is just growing and growing. Hard work, but exciting.
Toyed with the idea of starting a recruitment business for mainly contractors and also perm staff in quite a niche industry. I'm quite friendly with the director of a company with c.30-40 contractors on their books at any one time, and I could almost certainly be the agency of choice for every new one they have in the door as staff turns over, providing I was reliable with wages etc. Which would be quite easy because this company in particular settle their wages invoices with the agencies weekly not on a 30,60 or 90 day basis!
I don't know the first thing about recruitment from the recruiters side though which is what's stopped me from going for it. The legal side of employing people through an agency and the payroll side of things is all very alien to me... still something Im trying to find out more about!
Fair play OP glad it's working out!! Good inspirational story.
I don't know the first thing about recruitment from the recruiters side though which is what's stopped me from going for it. The legal side of employing people through an agency and the payroll side of things is all very alien to me... still something Im trying to find out more about!
Fair play OP glad it's working out!! Good inspirational story.
Edited by CX53 on Monday 31st July 22:01
CX53 said:
Toyed with the idea of starting a recruitment business for mainly contractors and also perm staff in quite a niche industry. I'm quite friendly with the director of a company with c.30-40 contractors on their books at any one time, and I could almost certainly be the agency of choice for every new one they have in the door as staff turns over, providing I was reliable with wages etc. Which would be quite easy because this company in particular settle their wages invoices with the agencies weekly not on a 30,60 or 90 day basis!
I don't know the first thing about recruitment from the recruiters side though which is what's stopped me from going for it. The legal side of employing people through an agency and the payroll side of things is all very alien to me... still something Im trying to find out more about!
Fair play OP glad it's working out!! Good inspirational story.
Er, doesn't it seem like a good idea to pm the OP and make a few suggestions as to how his skills may benefit the both of you? You're welcome. Invoice later this month.I don't know the first thing about recruitment from the recruiters side though which is what's stopped me from going for it. The legal side of employing people through an agency and the payroll side of things is all very alien to me... still something Im trying to find out more about!
Fair play OP glad it's working out!! Good inspirational story.
Edited by CX53 on Monday 31st July 22:01
I thought about a staff agency before I set my thing up. If you're supplying permanent staff then it's a search & selection service, all well & good. If it's temps, then you have to pay them. Every Friday on the dot, no excuses. The working capital involved in that put me off, before you get into issues of payment from clients. As it is I constantly come up against slow payers, it's just the nature of my business but it does nothing for my peaceful sleep patterns.
Recruitment attracts a lot of dreamers and is notorious for staff spinning off their own companies. Owned a small share in a recruitment firm for a few years. Pretty much every year someone would quit to start their own consultancy. The perception that you need just a laptop and a phone and a bit of Delboy sales patter to steal your old employer's customers makes it irresistible to a lot of employees, particularly those in their 30s and 40s who can't see a route up the management ladder.
A question for the OP: did you have much fallback capital when you took the plunge? Ie. a financial bed to fall into in case it all went tits up?
I think that's the biggest thing holding me from doing the same thing. I've got a very unsupportive bank balance, if the worst came to the worst.
I think that's the biggest thing holding me from doing the same thing. I've got a very unsupportive bank balance, if the worst came to the worst.
CX53 said:
Toyed with the idea of starting a recruitment business for mainly contractors and also perm staff in quite a niche industry. I'm quite friendly with the director of a company with c.30-40 contractors on their books at any one time, and I could almost certainly be the agency of choice for every new one they have in the door as staff turns over, providing I was reliable with wages etc. Which would be quite easy because this company in particular settle their wages invoices with the agencies weekly not on a 30,60 or 90 day basis!
I don't know the first thing about recruitment from the recruiters side though which is what's stopped me from going for it. The legal side of employing people through an agency and the payroll side of things is all very alien to me... still something Im trying to find out more about!
Fair play OP glad it's working out!! Good inspirational story.
It's maybe harder than you think and in my opinion starting a recruitment agency with no prior experience is a recipe for likely failure. Sounds like a good situation though if you can get some experience, good for youI don't know the first thing about recruitment from the recruiters side though which is what's stopped me from going for it. The legal side of employing people through an agency and the payroll side of things is all very alien to me... still something Im trying to find out more about!
Fair play OP glad it's working out!! Good inspirational story.
Edited by CX53 on Monday 31st July 22:01
Johnniem said:
CX53 said:
Toyed with the idea of starting a recruitment business for mainly contractors and also perm staff in quite a niche industry. I'm quite friendly with the director of a company with c.30-40 contractors on their books at any one time, and I could almost certainly be the agency of choice for every new one they have in the door as staff turns over, providing I was reliable with wages etc. Which would be quite easy because this company in particular settle their wages invoices with the agencies weekly not on a 30,60 or 90 day basis!
I don't know the first thing about recruitment from the recruiters side though which is what's stopped me from going for it. The legal side of employing people through an agency and the payroll side of things is all very alien to me... still something Im trying to find out more about!
Fair play OP glad it's working out!! Good inspirational story.
Er, doesn't it seem like a good idea to pm the OP and make a few suggestions as to how his skills may benefit the both of you? You're welcome. Invoice later this month.I don't know the first thing about recruitment from the recruiters side though which is what's stopped me from going for it. The legal side of employing people through an agency and the payroll side of things is all very alien to me... still something Im trying to find out more about!
Fair play OP glad it's working out!! Good inspirational story.
Edited by CX53 on Monday 31st July 22:01
HugoFastmann said:
A question for the OP: did you have much fallback capital when you took the plunge? Ie. a financial bed to fall into in case it all went tits up?
I think that's the biggest thing holding me from doing the same thing. I've got a very unsupportive bank balance, if the worst came to the worst.
Just an overdraft and a girlfriend who was on good money. I explained to her that she needed to be comfortable with me not earning for 3 months or so which she was, and 3 months turned out to be accurate before I was able to start paying myself.I think that's the biggest thing holding me from doing the same thing. I've got a very unsupportive bank balance, if the worst came to the worst.
You clearly need to be able to support yourself financially for the initial period. So do your sums and if you can, then don't let that stop you!
lawtoni said:
It's maybe harder than you think and in my opinion starting a recruitment agency with no prior experience is a recipe for likely failure. Sounds like a good situation though if you can get some experience, good for you
Maybe, I'm no recruitment guy but what I do know is if you're able to kick off with a guaranteed pipeline of work, it's a tremendous fillip. Nothing beats cash flow for a new business I know when I set out, I ran down to a months worth of cash before I got the first customer rocking & rolling, it was a very close run thing.boobles said:
Good on you I say! I just wish I had to balls to hand my notice in & work for myself.
The problem I have is, I have worked for the same company for 23 years & my experience would only appeal to such a small market due to the nature of my job (crash testing) .....
Sounds quite interesting, could you not write about it - focusing on various disasters, perhaps when the dummies went on strike and you had to fill in or something? If you blogged about it, it might get picked up by other blogs and pull some advertising revenue in through crash helmets and t-cut ads.The problem I have is, I have worked for the same company for 23 years & my experience would only appeal to such a small market due to the nature of my job (crash testing) .....
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