Where is the best place to start? I mean I have an idea for the business and a location, but what are the steps lifers have taken to get where they are?
Care to share your idea or is that too risky
I doubt it. The world is 2014 years old to the best of our knowledge. Most ideas have been done.
The best business is anything to do with funerals. People are dying to give you there business.
Your never be skint.
Thanks for that positive input. Plenty of opportunities out there.
In an ideal world you would have enough start up capital that you wouldn't need a bank loan.
In an ideal world you would have enough capital that you wouldn't need to bother
I only say that as for those that have no capital the banks will, literally, laugh you out of their office. Lending for start up businesses is both very difficult to get and incredibly expensive. I would go as far as to say that many businesses are profitable with out the need for a bank loan and unprofitable with one.
In the situation where someone has no cash behind them they should consider looking for help from family, either as a friendly loan or equity partnership or getting some paid work to save up some. No financial institution wants to risk their (or their shareholder's) money on someone that is risking nothing of their own in an attempt to make a lot of money in the future. It was always like this but never more so than now!
Will look into this for sure.
Different perspective if you are securing a loan on a property, though, as you do have that as an asset behind you.
am contemplating starting one up at the moment to do work here and there as a consultant/contractor, but not full time. Not sure which one is best to suit, and also if I buy stuff before I do can I then transfer it to the company and claim back cost/tax etc.
More stress and hard work than you have ever had Waking up at 3 am thinking about a small issue you didn't deal with trying to find good help/labour and then keeping it and getting enough work to keep it. Realising you have underpriced stuff and the margin shrinking. Worrying the jobs get done worrying where the next jobs coming from worrying the jobs get paid for
BUT
Its the best thing I have ever done by far and very rewarding.
If you are going into anything Green/Eco related there are a plethora of grants from the EU available to help you set up and market yourselves. ask me if you need help mate.,
Started on my dream just over a year ago, went solo as of Jan 1 this year. My business still not up and running but I have had so much preparation to do. Throughly enjoyed this year, but had some very stressful moments. I'm six months behind where I thought I'd be by now. I've spent a small fortune but have not earned a penny yet. What keeps me going is that I am 100% certain that my business plan is not only achievable but will fill a niche and will ultimately be profitable. I worked for other people from 1982-2013 and never in that period did I ever have any real ambition or goals. I had my epiphany in May 2013 and am very excited about the future. If you are lucky enough to have a dream like I did, then you must follow it through. If you believe, then you will get there. I'm nearly there. 100% belief in what you want to achieve is far, far, far more important than an accountant.
100% belief in what you want to achieve is far, far, far more important than an accountant.
I'm not sure I agree with that but I may be misunderstanding you. Determination and reality are more important than blind faith. I've always believed in setting targets for two reasons. Firstly, you learn to get better at being realistic and setting future targets and, secondly, it makes you think why things have not gone as planned (and, of course, things often won't). Knowing when to abandon a course of action is just as important as knowing when to press on.
More stress and hard work than you have ever had Waking up at 3 am thinking about a small issue you didn't deal with trying to find good help/labour and then keeping it and getting enough work to keep it. Realising you have underpriced stuff and the margin shrinking. Worrying the jobs get done worrying where the next jobs coming from worrying the jobs get paid for
BUT
Its the best thing I have ever done by far and very rewarding.
If you are going into anything Green/Eco related there are a plethora of grants from the EU available to help you set up and market yourselves. ask me if you need help mate.,
Started my business in 1986 and sold it this year. My advice would be to ensure you know and fully understand the trade you intend to set your business up within. Too many people take a punt like opening a restaurant or a shop with no prior knowledge whatsoever of that particular industry . "Build it and they will come" doesn't always work.
Also, consider carefully why you are doing it. Lifestyle or ambition. Lastly, if you fall down be prepared to get up and try again. Every one of the Dragons had a failed business venture before they succeeded. Unfortunately we can't all afford that luxury.
I'd agree with @masicat. It's important to learn from failures. It's always tempting to think that successes are down to your great performance and failures are bad luck.
100% belief in what you want to achieve is far, far, far more important than an accountant.
I'm not sure I agree with that but I may be misunderstanding you. Determination and reality are more important than blind faith. I've always believed in setting targets for two reasons. Firstly, you learn to get better at being realistic and setting future targets and, secondly, it makes you think why things have not gone as planned (and, of course, things often won't). Knowing when to abandon a course of action is just as important as knowing when to press on.
"Targets" can be dangerous and a determination to meet them - no matter what - even worse. They tend to distort everything else around them and other important aspects get overlooked. For example, if you have a target to sell x number of units but sales are not going to reach that target, there is a temptation to drop the price to achieve the target - but to do that you need to reduce the quality and doing that could be fatal. Badly thought through targets in the environment of the NHS provide us with plenty of examples of how things can go terribly wrong: think cost savings targets vs ward cleanliness.
Instead use "measures" to determine how you are doing.
Goodhart's law is named after the banker who originated it, Charles Goodhart. Its most popular formulation is: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
The original formulation by Goodhart, a former advisor to the Bank of England and Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, is this: "As soon as the government attempts to regulate any particular set of financial assets, these become unreliable as indicators of economic trends." This is because investors try to anticipate what the effect of the regulation will be, and invest so as to benefit from it. Goodhart first used it in a 1975 paper, and it later became used popularly to criticize the United Kingdom government of Margaret Thatcher for trying to conduct monetary policy on the basis of targets for broad and narrow money. However, the concept is considerably older, and closely related ideas are known under different names, e.g. Campbell's Law (1976), and the Lucas critique (1976). The law is implicit in the economic idea of rational expectations. While it originated in the context of market responses, the law has profound implications for the selection of high-level targets in organisations.
100% belief in what you want to achieve is far, far, far more important than an accountant.
I'm not sure I agree with that but I may be misunderstanding you. Determination and reality are more important than blind faith. I've always believed in setting targets for two reasons. Firstly, you learn to get better at being realistic and setting future targets and, secondly, it makes you think why things have not gone as planned (and, of course, things often won't). Knowing when to abandon a course of action is just as important as knowing when to press on.
"Targets" can be dangerous and a determination to meet them - no matter what - even worse. They tend to distort everything else around them and other important aspects get overlooked. For example, if you have a target to sell x number of units but sales are not going to reach that target, there is a temptation to drop the price to achieve the target - but to do that you need to reduce the quality and doing that could be fatal. Badly thought through targets in the environment of the NHS provide us with plenty of examples of how things can go terribly wrong: think cost savings targets vs ward cleanliness.
Instead use "measures" to determine how you are doing.
Goodhart's law is named after the banker who originated it, Charles Goodhart. Its most popular formulation is: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
The original formulation by Goodhart, a former advisor to the Bank of England and Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, is this: "As soon as the government attempts to regulate any particular set of financial assets, these become unreliable as indicators of economic trends." This is because investors try to anticipate what the effect of the regulation will be, and invest so as to benefit from it. Goodhart first used it in a 1975 paper, and it later became used popularly to criticize the United Kingdom government of Margaret Thatcher for trying to conduct monetary policy on the basis of targets for broad and narrow money. However, the concept is considerably older, and closely related ideas are known under different names, e.g. Campbell's Law (1976), and the Lucas critique (1976). The law is implicit in the economic idea of rational expectations. While it originated in the context of market responses, the law has profound implications for the selection of high-level targets in organisations.
Good post. I don't think I explained myself clearly enough, to be honest. There's nothing wrong with setting targets as long as you are not afraid to change those targets and do it with eyes open. I totally agree that if you set sales as a target and blindly pursue that target, the tendency will be to drop the price/reduce quality etc. What I should have made clear is that it might be right to drop price/reduce quality but it might be better to increase price/improve quality or 101 other things. Perhaps, goals would have been a better word - particularly as we are on a football forum!
In huge organisations like the NHS, targets are a dangerous thing and generally bad news. They tend to have the effect of either pursuing targets blindly because it is difficult to re-direct such a juggernaut or encouraging staff to do just enough. In my defence, I've read this thread as though it is referring to starting a small business and setting sensible targets/goals and adjusting them is, I believe, a good thing. If one person or a small number of people are in control of a business, it should be easier to re-direct it if necessary.
Why is an accountant so critical at the outset - I would have thought accountants come into their own once they have something to count.
I'd start with the right product / service and an excellent sales / delivery proposition.
it helps a lot further down the line and can save you a bundle in taxes at the end of the financial year and generally having everything well structure for growth across the board is a good thing.
Pleased to say i have some regular clients coming through the door now, after a good few months of nothing. Still not making very much, barely enough to call a living but i've only just started!
Anyone had many problems registering a buisness name?
Yes, can't be confused with another company with a similar name. But you should get away with it if you tweak it enough.
We're having to rebrand as someone trademarked our name in the US and moving out there is a very likely next step for us.
Not good. How did you go about registering the name?
There are plenty of businesses that offer "off the shelf" pre-registered companies. It's the easiest way. You'd pay about £150 I should think. The advantage is that the company is up and running and ready to go. You just have to register any change of name with the Registrar of Companies aka Companies House together with the new directors (you + one other probably) and address of the registered office.
While its easy enough to change the name of the company you've bought - as long as it doesn't clash with another or sound like it's a bank or something - many firms never bother. They keep the official name but run their business under an entirely separate trading name. Oh, you have to decide whether you want a standard limited company (A £2 quid company as they used to be called) or a PLC. The latter sounds grand but isn't. A plc must have £50k of capital but only 25% paid. And that could be by way of assets or equipment you've made available to the company.
Comments
"buisness"
:-)
Expect:
More stress and hard work than you have ever had
Waking up at 3 am thinking about a small issue you didn't deal with
trying to find good help/labour and then keeping it and getting enough work to keep it.
Realising you have underpriced stuff and the margin shrinking.
Worrying the jobs get done
worrying where the next jobs coming from
worrying the jobs get paid for
BUT
Its the best thing I have ever done by far and very rewarding.
If you are going into anything Green/Eco related there are a plethora of grants from the EU available to help you set up and market yourselves. ask me if you need help mate.,
What keeps me going is that I am 100% certain that my business plan is not only achievable but will fill a niche and will ultimately be profitable.
I worked for other people from 1982-2013 and never in that period did I ever have any real ambition or goals. I had my epiphany in May 2013 and am very excited about the future.
If you are lucky enough to have a dream like I did, then you must follow it through. If you believe, then you will get there. I'm nearly there.
100% belief in what you want to achieve is far, far, far more important than an accountant.
Beer is food apparently.
100% this
Also, consider carefully why you are doing it. Lifestyle or ambition. Lastly, if you fall down be prepared to get up and try again. Every one of the Dragons had a failed business venture before they succeeded. Unfortunately we can't all afford that luxury.
Instead use "measures" to determine how you are doing.
Goodhart's law is named after the banker who originated it, Charles Goodhart. Its most popular formulation is: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
The original formulation by Goodhart, a former advisor to the Bank of England and Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, is this: "As soon as the government attempts to regulate any particular set of financial assets, these become unreliable as indicators of economic trends." This is because investors try to anticipate what the effect of the regulation will be, and invest so as to benefit from it. Goodhart first used it in a 1975 paper, and it later became used popularly to criticize the United Kingdom government of Margaret Thatcher for trying to conduct monetary policy on the basis of targets for broad and narrow money. However, the concept is considerably older, and closely related ideas are known under different names, e.g. Campbell's Law (1976), and the Lucas critique (1976). The law is implicit in the economic idea of rational expectations. While it originated in the context of market responses, the law has profound implications for the selection of high-level targets in organisations.
In huge organisations like the NHS, targets are a dangerous thing and generally bad news. They tend to have the effect of either pursuing targets blindly because it is difficult to re-direct such a juggernaut or encouraging staff to do just enough. In my defence, I've read this thread as though it is referring to starting a small business and setting sensible targets/goals and adjusting them is, I believe, a good thing. If one person or a small number of people are in control of a business, it should be easier to re-direct it if necessary.
I'd start with the right product / service and an excellent sales / delivery proposition.
Regards
Paul
Pleased to say i have some regular clients coming through the door now, after a good few months of nothing. Still not making very much, barely enough to call a living but i've only just started!
We're having to rebrand as someone trademarked our name in the US and moving out there is a very likely next step for us.
While its easy enough to change the name of the company you've bought - as long as it doesn't clash with another or sound like it's a bank or something - many firms never bother. They keep the official name but run their business under an entirely separate trading name.
Oh, you have to decide whether you want a standard limited company (A £2 quid company as they used to be called) or a PLC. The latter sounds grand but isn't. A plc must have £50k of capital but only 25% paid. And that could be by way of assets or equipment you've made available to the company.
companiesmadesimple.com/