difficulty of starting a business?

[rainbow]

thanks for all this, i have a full time job atm, but its basically where i go in the day to earn cash and think of ideas and things, i dont plan to have anywhere near enough money for a while yet, but as you said the more i plan it and make things fall into place in practice then it should be a big help when it comes to the real thing, at the moment im satill thinkinh of viable ideas, as i would only ever start something in a field that i love because otherwise i wouldnt have the drive. how old were you guys when you did this? im 18 now soon to be 19, i know that cant start any of this at this age becuase banks would laugh in my face i presume and i personally want to be deadly sure on how things are going to work, but saying thati think i can do it, my dad has two businesses and he has a comfortable life.

and i suppose if i work all the hours god sends im making myself better off instead of my boss


thanks ill check out that forum cheers

[Koolpc]

My mate works for a company but also has his own little business which he has not registered for Tax etc etc. He just takes the money and keeps it all. Not a good idea really as he may come a cropper one day!!

[Matt1eD]

The 1st golden rule of running your own business is - know your trade and the market you are aiming at. If you don't have any clue on these, then no matter how good your accountant is or how good the bank your business account is with, or even how good your business plan is, you are not going to be able to make it.

Very true but you should know your costs, market, products & failover products etc. prior to writing your business plan.

how old were you guys when you did this?

16!

Good luck

Just remember, you'll have bad days when you think why the hell did I do this then you're going to have other days you think it's the greatest thing you ever did. Don't let it get you down, it's hard work but exciting and almost fun.

[rainbow]

koolpc: your mate could get busted there lol

what kinda age do pepole do this kind of thing and is there a reason why it takes a certain age to, aside from knowledge and expeirence of life ect, which are obvious.

and not being able to get credit on things would suck but its a price to pay tbh and once you have proven yourself assuming your plan works then i suppose its not a problem with credit and finance plans ect

[Koolpc]

I know he could get busted, i have warned him but he has been doing this now for about 2 years!

[Matt1eD]

koolpc: your mate could get busted there lol

what kinda age do pepole do this kind of thing and is there a reason why it takes a certain age to, aside from knowledge and expeirence of life ect, which are obvious.

and not being able to get credit on things would suck but its a price to pay tbh and once you have proven yourself assuming your plan works then i suppose its not a problem with credit and finance plans ect

If you can help it I seriously do suggest you don't get loans for this, a large percentage of businesses fail and banks get angry, luckily I had a few thousand stashed away to start it with but if I hadn't I wouldn't have borrowed whether of family, friends or a bank (where I over 18).

As for age oddly enough I've helped those with 30 or 40 years life experience! You can challenge this but business is down to psychology, luckily that's always been an interest for me but NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is invaluable as is confidence (which can be gained from NLP). As I said before for business experience prior to starting just be really motivated and it's easy to learn all the stuff from the authorities I mentioned earlier - naturally it helps if you've had going it alone experience before.

[Proplus]

I first started up own little company import facias for mobile phones (way before anyone in this country had them) from SE Asia when I was 18. Had around 5k to fund it and worked from home. The dining room was used as the warehouse for boxes of the stuff. At the time, had no clue about that area of field, but was lucky to have contacts in SE Asia who hooked me up with the factory owners of the facias. The company was doing very well trade-wise, no profit, no loss, just break even, and earned plenty of experience, but in the end had to give it up for other reasons after 1.5 years.

I started my first restaurant when I was 26, and sold it 3 years after for a nice profit. Opened another one last year, and another 3 months ago.

[rainbow]

would you say people are better off starting up in something they love/enjoy ect, or something where there is more likely market and money??

[Matt1eD]

would you say people are better off starting up in something they love/enjoy ect, or something where there is more likely market and money??

Typically people find a market through something they enjoy, but generally something people love as they'll be happy to push to make anything happen... but having said that, naturally the market for some takes precedance.

[autopilot]

really is ther any franchises around that areof interest to some1 in i.t, i mean i dont fancy opening a osta coffe ty for the advice so far

Lot's of IT franchises around, have a look on the Be The Boss website.

You dont have to invest that much. Mine cost just £10 + i borowed £5 for working capital - working capital is just as, if not more, important that profits while you are starting out. The reason most business die is from having a poor cash flow, even if business is doing well.

A franchiee is becoming one of the best ways to start out in business for the first time. You can learn all the in's and out's and sell it (even for a profit) at a later date. You have the advantage of good support (you should do anyway) and an established working business model with a name people are already used to and trust. You can also see how well thing might go by talking to other franchisee owners.

Just an idea for you, but alway worth a look.

You dont have to find a job you love and are pasionate about, you could spend all your life looking. For me i just want something that not too stressful, flexible and that i dont hate - an earns me enough money to have the lifestyle i want of course. You would be suprised what you might discover you actual do enjoy. Many people in IT pigeon-hole themselves and think it has to be directly IT related. What i am doing is a million miles from the IT stuff i did at uni.

I will never work for anyone else again. Self employment is a much more natural and rewarding experience.

[Agent]

I started my first restaurant when I was 26, and sold it 3 years after for a nice profit. Opened another one last year, and another 3 months ago.

Any around Brum i can take the missus to ?

[Proplus]

Any around Brum i can take the missus to ?

Got the Taipan Sushi restaurant right next to the Hippodrome, ask to speak to Sam and say Wing sent you, as I'm never there.

The other is in Telford, called Tin Tin Cantonese, I'm there nearly 24/7.

[rainbow]

right soz not to post back, i have kinda come up with an idea, but what to do about it... i seem to keep thinking about this but not know where i should start..

[Matt1eD]

Do your business plan first, that should if properly written outline any obvious flows (fiscal or logistical). Whilst there is no set length for bplans they should cover everythig, how much you think you'll work, funding, the current market, production, environment everything! The corporate summary at the beginning puts it all in brief for the bank to read if you need a loan - so that must be good. Then get some close friends who wont nick the idea to assess its feasibility. Think about it for a couple of months unless it only is essential it's a big responsibility in time particularly.

[skewed]

I'm a part time pimp. I'm my own accountant.

[rainbow]

thanks for that