Starting Your Own Business

[gsfrontera]

Hi all.

Looking for some different opinions really, which I know ill get plenty of on PH

Im currently employed, in a secure job with a relatively decent wage. For a while now I have been toying with the idea of starting my own small business working from home.

Now I know it would be a big step and would take a while to get things going, but do you people think im mad giving up a perfectly good job, to try and make it on my own.

I would be the only person in my area offering the service and im sure clients would be forthcoming.

Me and the Mrs are stuck as she thinks I should just keep working at my current job as its secure, whereas im willing to try my luck.

We have a small child too, so its not just a case of me and her eating bread and drinking water if it all goes wrong.

So give us some PH advice, what would you guys do?

[dave0010]

Is iit something you could start up and run on a part time buisness? then you can assess the interest and possible earnings and see if its worthwhile to go full time.

[gsfrontera]

dave0010 said:

Is iit something you could start up and run on a part time buisness? then you can assess the interest and possible earnings and see if its worthwhile to go full time.

It is possible and I did think of this. I work long hours through the week though, and by the time im finished im pretty much ready for sleep

[fergywales]

gsfrontera said:

It is possible and I did think of this. I work long hours through the week though, and by the time im finished im pretty much ready for sleep

How 'long' are your hours currently? Chances are, with most self run businesses I've either run or been involved with, you ain't seen nothing yet! Oh, the life of being chief cook and bottle washer, those were the days.

Other things to consider, how structured is your job currently? If you have a set routine, suddenly working for yourself can be both positively liberating and also negatively freeing, meaning that you could become distracted by the little details and miss the big picture.

Do a business plan, and have someone objectively (not a mate in the pub) look at it. For the sake of a couple of hundred quid with an accountant (or even free if you know a decent small business banker where you bank), you could save yourself a lot of heartache in the long run.