Business Start Up

[pompeyfaith]

Right starting this thread due to the current employment market being not good and the fact many will be looking towards self employment.

My son is going down this route due to doing 2 years in college and then 3 years in apprenticeships which are not what I would call a true apprenticeship but more a job on very low income of less than £3 a hour.

There is very knowledgeable members on this forum with the experience to help those wishing to start up a business so I hope this thread will take off and be a rich source of info because it is a minefield out there on the internet.

Regards.

[vossy]

Re: Business Start Up

Right starting this thread due to the current employment market being not good and the fact many will be looking towards self employment.

My son is going down this route due to doing 2 years in college and then 3 years in apprenticeships which are not what I would call a true apprenticeship but more a job on very low income of less than £3 a hour.

There is very knowledgeable members on this forum with the experience to help those wishing to start up a business so I hope this thread will take off and be a rich source of info because it is a minefield out there on the internet.

Regards.

Hi PF, I hope your son gets on okay, with grit, determination and a lot of luck he will be fine, these so called apprenticeships are a farce I agree, I have a friend who's son is on one now, he gets a half day at college every two weeks and works 45 hours a week, his wage? The government recommended £95 per week - £2.11 per hour, he is doing the same work in the same amount of time as the skilled people, the guy who owns the place is looking to maybe take more apprentices on but at the same time lay off one of the skilled workers - what a joke!

Good luck to your son, a much better route for him I reckon.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Business Start Up

Vossy yes same as my Son he is 22yrs old with an 9 week old son too, the one day at college is a farce as all he is doing is retaking the courses he has already done and past when he was a full time student.

He got no issues with working hard to carve his future but there are no jobs to be had and he is being taken for a mug were he is now.

So I said sort yourself out now as sole trader self employed before April 2013 and the cuts come in he has already done some work for friends like installing cards and memory, resolving errors and doing complete back ups and reinstalls.

So using what he has learnt for himself is the way to go.

[vossy]

Re: Business Start Up

I agree PF, I really do wish him all the luck.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Business Start Up

Have got niddy on the case as regards to a bright shining website and hosting he is going down to the tax office tomorrow and has an appointment in the afternoon with Enterprise first

[Deepie]

Re: Business Start Up

With a bit of determination and hard work I too wish him luck

My bit of advice.... never turn work away... could lead into bigger things

[SXGuy]

Re: Business Start Up

My family and I have always been self employed.

If you were to ask me what the pro's are its simple.

All the money you earn is yours, YOU decide when you want to work, no one else.

If you manage your work well, you can easily be a person of lesuire while earning good money.

No shitty toffy nose twat telling you what to do.

No threat of redundancy.

Of course the pitfalls are, looking for work to draw an income, but from expierence i can tell you, once you have a few regular clients, word of mouth is your golden ticket.

Do a good job, and they will recommend you to others.

Both my accountancy firm and web design business have all earned regular money soley on word of mouth, i very rarely get any work from advertisments.

If you need any start up business advice, please feel free to pm me, im more than happy to point you in the right direction, such as, when to notify HMRC, how to keep proper records etc.

[Spent2much]

Re: Business Start Up

my 22 years old son is in business also he has repairs pc's .
My first advise would be this.
Don't open a business account it costs too much and isn't real time banking, you can use a normal account for your business and it won't cost you a penny.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Business Start Up

My family and I have always been self employed.

If you were to ask me what the pro's are its simple.

All the money you earn is yours, YOU decide when you want to work, no one else.

If you manage your work well, you can easily be a person of lesuire while earning good money.

No shitty toffy nose twat telling you what to do.

No threat of redundancy.

Of course the pitfalls are, looking for work to draw an income, but from expierence i can tell you, once you have a few regular clients, word of mouth is your golden ticket.

Do a good job, and they will recommend you to others.

Both my accountancy firm and web design business have all earned regular money soley on word of mouth, i very rarely get any work from advertisments.

If you need any start up business advice, please feel free to pm me, im more than happy to point you in the right direction, such as, when to notify HMRC, how to keep proper records etc.

Thanks SX Guy that is most useful to him being as he is fresh out of the bag so to speak. and what will put him in good stead is experience from others like you who have been there and done it.

[SA Gold]

Re: Business Start Up

My first advise would be this.
Don't open a business account it costs too much and isn't real time banking, you can use a normal account for your business and it won't cost you a penny.

When i went on a self-employed course at HMRC the instructor actually said they dont really mind what account you use as long as you keep your own records
Sole trader will get away with personal bank account

[alland]

Re: Business Start Up

PF I wish your Son all the best, being self employed is not an easy route to riches by any means. But if he is prepared to work hard and persevere when times are tough, and believe me there will be tough times !
Then he has a chance of making himself a reasonable living without having to answer to anyone only himself.

I have been self employed for a very long time, I worked hard and saw my business grow and enjoyed the fruits of success for many years, but I also had to watch it crumble before my eyes when things happened that was out of my control, hence here I am a member here on a debt forum !

I ignored the signs and used credit cards to keep the business afloat, in retrospect that was reckless and I can't stress it enough, if the signs are there that the business is not making money, don't prop it up by getting into debt. I am a perfect example of why you should never do that.. it almost cost me my life! and no business is worth that.

Yes listen to advice from the experts such as Enterprise first, but in the early days you need to operate by your own gut feeling,keep overheads low, keep good records(The tax man punishes sloppy book keeping)if you have a good income one month don't go out and blow it in, because the next month could be the complete opposite, always try to keep a few quid put away in an emergency fund, open a separate BS account to put money away for personal tax/NI ect.

And very important spend on good quality business cards, do lots of foot work around other small/medium size businesses within the area he is going to operate to introduce himself and his services on offer.
The guy who takes care of our PC's is a guy who called in one day and introduced himself and left his details, four years later he is still the PC upgrade and service guy we call.

And for home PC repairs check if there is a local free paper to advertise in, also place cards on notice boards at supermarkets,in newsagents windows ect. in fact my local chip shop has a notice board on the wall full of business cards.

Like I say it isn't easy to get a new business off the ground, but the rewards can be worth the effort. I have seen it from both ends of the spectrum,success and near failure, would I change it and work for someone else ? not a chance...

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Business Start Up

Alland,

Thanks for your wise words and wisdom it is all gratefully received, we are both going on a Barclays ready for business seminar on the 18th December mainly to get some advice on bookkeeping and marketing etc.

It is free so may as well go for it just a shame it is Barclays lol

[SXGuy]

Re: Business Start Up

Alland,

Thanks for your wise words and wisdom it is all gratefully received, we are both going on a Barclays ready for business seminar on the 18th December mainly to get some advice on bookkeeping and marketing etc.

It is free so may as well go for it just a shame it is Barclays lol

Word of advice, check that they are not just trying to sell you something like a business account as its not needed.

And make sure they arnt teaching you things you dont need to know, a lot of these bookkeeping advice seminars are geared up for ltd company businesses which envolve lengthy double entry skills, reconciliation and balance sheets.

None of which you need, ill be perfectly frank with you, if you are planning to be a small business, all you need is to keep a record of your incomings and outgoings, thats it.

You can buy a record keeping book from WH Smith, or you can go for pc software. If you chose to use computer software, pick one that makes your life easier, and allows you to make adjustments, id recommend Moneysoft Money Manager, as its simple, and not as confusing as Quickbooks or Sage.

And dont be fooled by thinking you need a balance sheet, you do not, BUT if you produce one on your first set of accounts, you have no choice but to continue every year, so best bet is to avoid it completely.

And lastly if you wish to avoid paying any tax in the first year, theres a little trick i can tell you (HMRC wont ever say it)

Most Self employed people run their accounts up to April as to avoid paying two rates of tax split between the two tax years, however the chance of the tax rate going up anytime soon is 0.

Therefore, if i was you (and i dont advise our clients this because we would lose money) run your accounts for a FULL year, past April, that way, the accounting period falls in to the following tax year, so in effect, you have a year of tax relief

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Business Start Up

Thanks SX Guy again solid advice son has now brought his domain so is ready soon as niddy is to build the site.

[LifeOfRyan]

Re: Business Start Up

Thank you everyone for the advice and kind words. I shall certainly look into acquiring MoneySoft manager as I'd much prefer to manage it all electronically. I have bought the domain now after doing a bit of poking around the net I decided to go with easyDNS as they seem to be quite reasonable got a 2 year plan for £32. They have already been very helpful via their live chat facility.

Also for anyone else who stumbles across this thread for help i found this website to be very helpful in choosing my domain. http://www.domainwarning.com/

Also i would certainly be interested in a website Niddy, whenever you are ready I have the means to pay you.