Small business

Anyone here run their own small business?

For the past 7/8 months I have been in the process of setting up my own business after being turned down for job after job, the reason usually being "you don't know the area well enough"

But, over the past couple days I have done some serious thinking on the issue, especially in the current financial climate. The business advisor I'm working with recons I'll be fine. If I was just on my own I'd still be going for it, but as I have to take into consideration my family I'm at a loss. I don't want to steam ahead just to lose everything in less than 6 months, especially as it's a niche market I'm targeting, if it was a mainstream market I wouldn't be as bothered.

Any SBO's having the same line of thoughts?

I had this thought earlier in the year, and it does take a lot of time and effort to get things going.

If you want to proceed, you need to have a really clear idea of what you want to do, and how you want to do it. Do you research before lay your hard-earned down on the table.

You'll need to get a good accountant. I recommend 'AIMS accountants' as they're a consortium of locally registered accountants working together as a business partnership. They can set up your business with companies house, as well as advise you on the best course of action for limiting the amounts of tax/NI/corporation tax you have to pay.

In addition, you'll require a business bank account. I found HSBC (sorry for the name dropping) to be the most competitive and 'safe' given the current financial climate.

You're going to require to have some money in the coffers to get some marketing material produced, and take it from me you'll need it from day one. Get quotes from a variety of sources for 1,2,all colour, litho and digital prints. Get someone artistically minded to help you design them. Get second third and fourth opinions - it is these which will be the main driver for your business in the initial months and so is vital you get it right first time.

Also, do your work to find out where you can market yourself to, once you've got your marketing material. No point having a box full of flyers and business cards if you've no one to give them to.

If you want some specific advice, please feel free to drop me a message. I can go into more details (in private) as to how much I've spent setting up and the time its taken so far.

both me and my husband have our own businesses. he is an electrician and left his previous job in May 2005 to go it alone. He is a sole trader ie not Ltd but we are considering going Ltd soon due to the turn over expected for next year. We had a lot of help setting up from our local governement enterprise company, you can sometimes get a small grant to help, we got £750.

We have 2 young children so this was obviously a concern and I was a full time mum at the time, so we really did put all our eggs in one basket. There have been difficult times but we have never been short of work even if it was just little jobs. We have adverts in yellow pages etc and linage ads in as many phone books as we can (lineaqge adverts tend to be free). Word of mouth is our main source of work though and of course thats free .

I have just started setting mine up I am a book keeper, we have an accountant but only to do the tax returns etc, I do all the book keeping for both businesses but with a decent package eg SAGE you could do the basics your self (saves money). If your going Ltd then you will need an accountant to set up really. Also think about whether you need to be VAT registered (depends on your turn over).

It is hard work being your own boss, yes you have nobody telling you what to do but you have all the responsibility. The government can be very supportive check if there are any local grant incentives in your area.

Get business cards and leaflet drops too (pending on your business type). Speak to as many people as you can in your field and see if you can get some jobs to get you going.

Good luck, if you want to ask anything ask away ....we have really enjoyed having our own business but it can be very stressful but also very flexible when required to be

Thanks Chris.

I already have a clear picture in my head of what I'm wanting to do, it's been there for over a year now.

The likes of the fliers and stuff is already being covered by Business Link NE. It's the funding thats worrying me. Personally, I would like to be able to go out right now and purchase all the equipment I need, but the lack of having one penny to rub against another leaves me in the position of having to 'sit up and beg' to various trusts. Because it's a niche market I'm targeting and the current financial climate I fear that the main Trust in question will decline to offer their support, or if they do offer support I will struggle to make ends meet while repaying them (the support they offer is 70% loan and 30% grant)

I honestly don't know what to do.

My Oh and I have been thinking of setting up a small business in photography (mainly weddings etc) But it is really scary and to be honest we don't know where to start.
Elaine x

Funny you should mention that, a couple nights ago I was chatting with a mate of mine who is also a Pro Photographer, based in Dumfriesshire, and has been for the past 15 years. I have seen his setup (all 35mm, own development etc) and it's a goodun. He recons that over the past 18 months his business has halfed due to the onset of digital, he has even had a couple weddings cancelled, "A mate of mine has a digital camera and it's only 30p to develop a picture at Boots, so we don't need you at £250 all in" is the usual story. Couple months ago he got a call from a couple who had previously cancelled asking for a booking. They had gotten married, and their mate with the digicam had chopped off their heads in most of the pics, so they needed a re-shoot. For the inconvienience and to teach them a lesson he hit them for about £400, and they paid it!

I know, we have been there People look at you as if you have two heads when you tell them the price, and we are a lot cheaper than most photographers. They tend to let Uncle 'Charlie or Fred' take the photos on his little digital. We did one last summer and we took some beautiful shots, some action one as well, the young ones tend to like those. Well when we presented her with the cd for her to choose. We got a list back, crop this and crop that. When we presented her album, I can honestly say it was awful. There was not one original photo in there. All the shots she wanted were of here 'head and shoulders' or her and OH same thing.
We did a photo book of the wedding for ourselves as part of the portfolio and it is stunning if I do say so myself. Double page spreads of the Bride coming through a lych gate with the Vicar walking behind with the bridesmaids and all of them were laughing, there was so much movement in the shot, and it never even got a look in.
Can't please some people.
Elaine xx

When running your own business the one thing you must have (in abundance) is confidence. Look at the confidence that shines through in Melsgems post above.

If you really are undecided it would be much better to get a regular job (Anything, even part time) so you have some cash comming in and at the same time develop your idea and plan to 'go it alone' in a year or two.

Oh yea I agree, OH works full time, so at the moment the photography is just a weekend thing. Mind you not had much this year. Will plan to try again next year. Hopefully, between then and now we can find some couples who are planning their wedding for next year or the year after.
Elaine x

Having confidence isn't a problem, Anyone that knows me will say I'm sometimes too confident for my own good.

With regards to the regular job, I did state in my first post that I had been turned town for job after job, possibly because of my appearance, but the reason given was that I didn't know the area very well. The only things I know are driving (car & PSV )and shooting, there's not much call for drive by shootings here. since I moved here last year I have applied for nearly 70 jobs, glass collector, delivery driver and trainee sign maker to name a few.

I have no formal trade (like Melsgems OH) to use for a business, electricians will always be needed, not everyone needs custom motorcycle parts (the niche)