Running your own business Good or Bad
Discussion
PetrolTed said:
Hi... Unlike some will assume, it's not automatically a route to riches & wealth beyond your wildest dreams!
How come you all drive Porsches and TVRs then? (those with taste at least).
Porsches and TVRs can be had for the price of a new Mondeo remember
But I can't afford a new Mondeo either
Pot Bellied Fool said:
Hi... Unlike some will assume, it's not automatically a route to riches & wealth beyond your wildest dreams! Although if I had a quid for everytime someone said "Oh, you work for yourself? You must be loaded then..." then I would be!
I'll drink to that one!! Would I ever go back to permanent employment? Maybe, it would have to depend on the circumstances. If the alternative meant losing my house or being penniless, then yes I would. However, even then I think it would be under duress! In spite of all the added pressures that being self-employed can bring, I don't think I'd have it any other way given the choice.
As for what I do, I'm an IT consultant.
Pot Bellied Fool said:
Hi... Unlike some will assume, it's not automatically a route to riches & wealth beyond your wildest dreams!
It's very much 'the buck stops here' and should be thought of as a way of life rather than a simple job. When there's work to be done & a deadline looming that's when you've got to pull the stops out from deep inside & just plough on (like I was still in the office till 0300 last night & will be again tonight.)
It's hard work, hard decisions and when things go badly, you have only yourself to blame. Conversely, when things go well, you get to reap the benefits of your own efforts.
For me, flexibility is a major bonus. If I want to take time off & go walk along the beach, I can. If I want to take a lie in, I can. Doesn't mean I do mind you otherwise you find it difficult to pay the bills but having that flexibility is great. Time off to sort out family stuff? just do it - no forms to fill in or grovelling to the boss. If you're a one-man band, it can be difficult persuading yourself to take holidays though.
No more dilbert-esque pointless meetings.
I may have made more money (and certainly would've had a better credit record) had I stayed in the rat race but I'm much happier doing it my way and when you get a good week of everything coming together it's a helluva buzz.
Do it.
Loads more general & specific advice surely to be had if you but ask. Cheers - PBF.
What he said with knobs on.
The hardest thing for me is in that when you actually work at home then it is very difficult not to take your work home with you. (I employ 3 people who work from an annexe we had modified for the job.
I, like other posters on this thread, have been doing this since 1988 and could not work for anyone else. Also you have to be able to deal with fluctuating income. Despite what most employees think, you cannot pay yourself what you havent earned. There are a lot of myths about running a company, (mine is Ltd.) BUT there is only one golden rule.
CASHFLOW IS KING.
There endeth the lesson..........now get back to work you lazy dogs.
I've been running a business in one way or another for 10 years or so (apart from when we were bought for a bit by a .com).
I spent this morning at the Sanger Institue where they do all that dna stuff. amazing place, utterly, utterly amazing. The facilities they have are second to none, it really brought out the geek in me
I thought for a while how nice it would be to have some sort of senior job there, a load of cash, no one starves if I don't do my job very well, lots of kit to play with. Fantastic place to work, nice people to work with etc, etc.
I doubt I'd last very long. I love what I do, yes it is bloody hard work, frustrating, worrying (there are 10 of us and cashflow really hurts) but I have the freedom to do as I want as long as I can talk my business partners into it
The things I would say to anyone embarking on this are (in no order).
Have a plan, know what you want when.
Have personal goals that you want the business to support. I'd really like a new car, I need to get the business into good shape so I can buy one, of course when nthe business is in that good shjape then I'll probably use the car money to grow the business..
Make sure you have some sort of exit strategy
Get a good accountant, be open and honest with them
All that stuff about cashflow, its right, cashflow is king
Do the things you are good at, outsource the things you are not (if you can afford it, I'm ringing round sorting bins out at the moment)
Consider anything that will generate revenue, but do not lose focus on your plan or goals
Work with people you trust
That'll do for now
Good luck
D
I spent this morning at the Sanger Institue where they do all that dna stuff. amazing place, utterly, utterly amazing. The facilities they have are second to none, it really brought out the geek in me
I thought for a while how nice it would be to have some sort of senior job there, a load of cash, no one starves if I don't do my job very well, lots of kit to play with. Fantastic place to work, nice people to work with etc, etc.
I doubt I'd last very long. I love what I do, yes it is bloody hard work, frustrating, worrying (there are 10 of us and cashflow really hurts) but I have the freedom to do as I want as long as I can talk my business partners into it
The things I would say to anyone embarking on this are (in no order).
Have a plan, know what you want when.
Have personal goals that you want the business to support. I'd really like a new car, I need to get the business into good shape so I can buy one, of course when nthe business is in that good shjape then I'll probably use the car money to grow the business..
Make sure you have some sort of exit strategy
Get a good accountant, be open and honest with them
All that stuff about cashflow, its right, cashflow is king
Do the things you are good at, outsource the things you are not (if you can afford it, I'm ringing round sorting bins out at the moment)
Consider anything that will generate revenue, but do not lose focus on your plan or goals
Work with people you trust
That'll do for now
Good luck
D
* Software development is a large part of my time (95% of the site is coded from scratch)
* Research/Development/testing/learning
* Server Upgrades/Monitoring/Planning
* Maintenance of sofware/upgrades
* Admin of forums/car ads/directories/shop/videos etc.
* Liasing with editor
* Sales
* Web Design
* Managing the shop stock
* Planning
* Paperwork
* Event planning
Or just reading the Gassing Station all day
Plotloss said:
If it is something you have always wanted to do, when you actually embark on what is at times a difficult journey, it is quite frankly the best thing ever.
Or even if its only something you're not half bad at and think you can do beter than your boss. Have to agree with an earlier poster about the bad days being bad and the good days being good but the good far outweighs the bad because its something you've achieved.
Personally, I think there's nothing better overall than running you're own business.
It all boils down to how you handle pressure.
If you're a highly stressed person then I would have thought certain aspects of it would be unbearable, such as the deadlines that must get hit, even though staff don't care at times as they get paid whatever. It boils down to you working every hour god sends to get it done when the $hit hits the fan.
Then there's the cashflow difficulties that normally go hand in hand with most new businesses. A lot of people don't like debt. You have to be able to see past the present & believe in what you do. Think how would you handle being up to the hilt on your £100k overdraft & having to pay wages, all the time knowing the you're owed money but it just ain't coming when it was promised.
Are companies going to go tits on you ? You'll be lucky it someone doesn't & its not a nice thing to have happen.
BUT, and its a bit but.
Think of never having having to answer to that bunch of middle management pr!cks that all companies have. The ones who speak to you like something they pick off there shoes.
Think of how it feels when the MD who basically told you you had no change of making a go at it feels when you go past in that flash car.
Think of when you had meeting with the sales to$$ers who you HAD to be nice to even though you despised them. Now you don't. All the decisions are yours.
Think of the times you've been declined that 1/2 days holiday because you've not given the boss the 2 weeks notice he made mandatory on the latest memo.
Give it a go. You may just love it. And who knows, you may even make a bit of money in the process.
Anyway, back to the serious stuff.........
What to put on the business cards....... MD, director, principle, boss, top dog, da man, playboy
It all boils down to how you handle pressure.
If you're a highly stressed person then I would have thought certain aspects of it would be unbearable, such as the deadlines that must get hit, even though staff don't care at times as they get paid whatever. It boils down to you working every hour god sends to get it done when the $hit hits the fan.
Then there's the cashflow difficulties that normally go hand in hand with most new businesses. A lot of people don't like debt. You have to be able to see past the present & believe in what you do. Think how would you handle being up to the hilt on your £100k overdraft & having to pay wages, all the time knowing the you're owed money but it just ain't coming when it was promised.
Are companies going to go tits on you ? You'll be lucky it someone doesn't & its not a nice thing to have happen.
BUT, and its a bit but.
Think of never having having to answer to that bunch of middle management pr!cks that all companies have. The ones who speak to you like something they pick off there shoes.
Think of how it feels when the MD who basically told you you had no change of making a go at it feels when you go past in that flash car.
Think of when you had meeting with the sales to$$ers who you HAD to be nice to even though you despised them. Now you don't. All the decisions are yours.
Think of the times you've been declined that 1/2 days holiday because you've not given the boss the 2 weeks notice he made mandatory on the latest memo.
Give it a go. You may just love it. And who knows, you may even make a bit of money in the process.
Anyway, back to the serious stuff.........
What to put on the business cards....... MD, director, principle, boss, top dog, da man, playboy
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