[Closed] Who runs their own business

I don't run my own small business, but I can tell you that a lot of entrepreneurs start out in something related to what they did for a full time job.

I've got a few ideas... but I can never think of them when someone asks.

I've just gone freelance, its better for my lifestyle, flexible and fun, motivation is the main problemo for working at home and getting distracted! but so far im earning more than I did on paye and working about a tenth.

cant be bad?

as per tron - most people start with either something they know or with a history of entreneurship (sp?).

if there were a forumla for success everyone would do it.

as per alexxx above, well all except the earning more in less time bit. And again I echo the bits about motivation and distraction, particularly while there has been world cup, wimbledon and now le tour action.

I was forced into it by redundency. Not the best thing ever but better than being hungry. The people who can manage to run their own businesses and manage their work life balance are different people to me. I seem to be screwed to the desk while I have work and then wondering about a Big Issue franchise for the rest of the time.

I guess it is what you choose to do for a business and what that industry demands.

Me.

I'm not sure that trying to think of something to start is necessarily the way though. By all means have a blinding flash of inspiration - I suspect that is the way to riches or going bankrupt depending on how it goes.

I found myself in a position of being an owning part of a medium sized business or stepping out & doing what I did with a mate for ourselves.

Its good and bad, more difficult to switch off from however I never have to worry about walking in one day and being made redundant, the flip side is I know whats in the bank balance and can see how much shite I am in or not.

I wouldnt swap it, I would rather crash and burn by my own efforts then somebody else screwing up.

10 years of it so far and still going, theres been good and bad times. Right now its not so clever but better than it was 6 months ago.

No Aston on the drive, no huge drive to put an Aston on but if I am having a really bad day nobody to tell me I cant put the phones on forward and go for a ride

I run my own business (with a partner). We worked together and went riding together at the weekends. One day riding in Dalby Forest we decided to give it a go - that was 6 years ago now. We did very well, 30% YOY growth until the recession hit and things are a little tougher now, but we don't owe a penny to anyone and earn similar money to when we were employed and have (a little bit) more freedom. (And lots of things are tax-deductable such as cars, insurance, phones, fuel etc which is a nice benefit). We also employ three people full time now.

We do the same job as we did for our employers (design for print/web and technical back-ends (booking systems, CRMs etc).

But if you want to do it, do something you enjoy and understand - don't just pick something out of the air and decide to start doing it unless you are buying a franchise (although you should still understand your market anyway).

Give me a shout if you have any specific questions 🙂

Run a PR firm with my wife.

It's the best thing you can do if you research, prepare and research more before starting up.

if there were a forumla for success everyone would do it.

To be fair, some elements of the entrepreneurial process has been codified. The key thing really is access to rarified information. That could be something like applying a technology to a problem it hasn't been used on before, or it could be as simple as realising that you can do what your employer is doing at a lower cost.

However, the thing that stops everyone from doing it is lack of opportunity, skill, and an unwillingness to take risks - to do entrepreneurship well takes a long time and a lot of research, before you even put any money up.

I do, and it's what I did when I was employed.

The early days were good, worked from home nice wage etc. Then I moved to premises and employed people and things got harder.
Got harder still when the reccession bit and many of my customers went under owing me tens of thousands.
Reduced the size again, back in control though still suffering the effects of the reccession.

Unlike a lot of self employed people I want a business that will stand on it's own in the future. Or be worth selling.

This very month I am celebrating 25 years of being self employed.
It was easy for me as I was young when starting out and living at home still, with no resposibilities.

You do need to have a plan, also something work wise that will pay a living wage. Most people I knwo started out doing a hobby type thing which tooki over a bit and gradually fell into the 'why not make this into a business type thing'.

I started out working for someone, then kept doing that type of work at home in the evenings and weekends, building up a client base. When the order book was full enough off I went.

Be warned though, it usually takes anything up to 2 years to get back any money that you plough into a business. I was lucky in having a loan from my Grandfather. Also a very supportive family to guide me.

If STW is anything to go by, running your own business makes you argumentative 😉

Mol - I think it takes a little dose of arrogance to believe you can do something better than anyone else - hence the argumentative nature of us business owners... 😉

my other half runs her own business based on what she did as a job previously.. I'm the househusband..

My bit of advice.. I think it helps to really genuinely not be in it solely for the money.. obviously still maintain good business practice but we took a big cut in earnings.. it's all good though.. much happier times than the daily grind..

Fair point Mat. You certainly seem self-assured!

I may be about to try and move from being a plain old contractor to partly running a consultancy company....

yunki - I totally agree with you there.

I actually walked out of employment one lunchtime and started up on my own with not a penny capital or anything.
As my accountant said last year 'you started with nothing and have most of it left'
I'm linked to the building trade so you can imagine it's pretty quiet.

I do, and it has it's good points and bad points.

Bad for me is the fact that I am the least financially-minded person I know, so all the fastidious receipt keeping, bank statement filing, VAT returns, personal tax returns and all that jazz really gets on my tats. I have to get someone else to do it. The other bad thing is that I sometimes look upon social engagements in a "bloody hell, how much is this going to cost me?" kind of way. I occasionally have to miss whole periods of work so I'm able to make a wedding, for instance. You don't work, you don't get paid, so that weekend in London doesn't just cost me travel, accommodation and beer money.

Good for me is that I can work when I want and where I want (within reason) and work doesn't tie me down to anywhere in the world. I.e. I could live in France and still do what I do now just as effectively.

Mol - a mate is doing similar in the same line of business.

Just make sure you're certain it's the right thing to do then go for it big time. Make sure one of you is clued up on finance - cashflow is king and not as straightforward to manage. And be utterly ruthless with overheads at all times.

I'm normally a plain old contractor ie I come to work along with all the permies. But a chap here is leaving and has just gone for an interview with another company with my same speciality. So I am going to try and get a consulting role with that other company whilst still working here, but with the other guy doing most of the work... Might be tricky as I am full time here but it depends on how flexible people are.

Just watch out for IR35 - you need to be invoicing more than one company (assuming you leave where you are now and consult for the other company full time?) otherwise the tax man will get narky. But you already know that...!

I think it'd put me completely clear of IR35, surely - working on two contracts at once..?

I would be staying at this company full time (or maybe a few fewer hours) but trying to work for another company at the same time. Maybe take a week off here and do a week there at first.

No problem then!

I run my own IT Support business from home and its going very slow, despite having a advert with yell.com. I havent had any calls in about a month. I live in Bristol and I am finding the lack of demand for my business/services

Simon - get selling - direct mail drops, cold calling, links to your website, a twitter page, anything. Get referrals from previous clients. Just waiting for calls won't work.

despite having a advert with yell.com

There's more to marketing yourself than putting one ad in one directory.

I have been working for myself for over 10 years as a freelance design consultant and although there are tough periods in the long haul i wouldn't go back to being an employee!

As previous posts have mentioned probably best to keep it to either something you have done in the past as a job or something that you have a passion in....

I run a telemarketing business with my partner. Started 10 years ago. previous to that I worked in fuel/oil futures. When we had children we decided to swap cash for flexibility essentially. OK, our car (we used to have two) is a Y reg, and sometimes holidays are a week in the lakes as opposed to a fortnight in the South of France (although we've managed those as well.) It does get stressful sometimes, a couple of clients who owe me a sizeable chunk of money seem to have gone on holiday all at the same time, but thems the breaks TBH. But our times' pretty much ours. We can get to all our kids stuff. We're still talking to each other...

Cheers Guys,

I am a sat comms engineer (designing satellites), so not really able to set up in that field on my own.

However I would love to start up, in something I love. The trouble is Im not on a bad wage at the mo, and I know that if I went with some of my ideas, my wage would be quatered. So that makes it not viable.

On the subject then - would you people rather work 'normally' for 6 months, and then have 3-6 months off, or just work few hours per week on an ongoing basis?

You mean contracting?

If yes, I have been thinking about it.

No I mean contracting vs freelance work

I've thought about setting up for a while now, on a part-time basis to begin with, then see what happens.

It would be something along the lines of my current 2D/3D CAD position, I have one possible source of work - as in we've loosely spoken about it in the past.

Any suggestions for essential reading, or more specifically how to go about understanding the basics?

My ideal would be to have 3 different jobs so that I could dedicate a day or two to each every week.

The plan would be I would never get bored because there would always be something to look forwards to & there would be moments to escape inbetween to get some non work fun in.

No idea how I could achieve it & make it work but I would like the opportunity to try

[i]My ideal would be to have 3 different jobs so that I could dedicate a day or two to each every week.

The plan would be I would never get bored because there would always be something to look forwards to & there would be moments to escape inbetween to get some non work fun in.

No idea how I could achieve it & make it work but I would like the opportunity to try [/i]

If you find out, let me know 🙂

Yes I run my own company with a partner - supplying online editorial content and a bit of management consultancy.

Tron's comments are interesting re. access to rarified information. That's how it worked for us.

General trend toward outsourcing in industry, ability to fulfil missing managerial function for clients and keep overheads close to zero by working from home makes us highly competitive at the moment.

Has been very satisfying and lucrative, though also long hours and a fair bit of stress.

Industry very fast-changing so we have tried to earn as much as possible while the going is good, in case it all stops.

Online editorial content?

Had my own business for 30 years now. Came out of hobby and experience from work. I am a bit fed up with it now, but it has given me a lot of flexibility that I would not have with work and has always been varied. In recent years been hit by cheap imports and now the recession.
It has always paid the bills, never made a fortune, been able to be around for the children as they have grown up. Someone from the bank recently pointed out that I have done well to keep going so long, be debt free and have a small mortgage - said they have many customers in debt up to their eyeballs...

Often these things come out of job experience and who you know, the right contacts are always important. Also it often takes a bit of time to get known and have enough work.

Now pondering a change and wondering if I could do something bike related, but suspect it may not be the right time....just need to keep making enough to keep me in bikes and riding time 🙂

Yes i'm self employed, i've only been trading a short time but have lots of work. I love the variety and meeting people and the flexible hours.

My overheads are low as i offer a service, and i've got no mortgage, if i had the pressure of the latter it would be stressful 😐

My wife has her own LTD company so she has helped me loads, i couldn't have done it without her.

I'd say to anyone do it, but think hard about your market.

I've been a sole trader doing management consultancy for the charity and social enterprise sectors (now renamed by the ConDems as "Civil Society")and also public sector agencies for 9 years.

Like most jobs there are some positives - making a difference for a client - and some frustrations - having to put tenders in for most pieces of work including many really small contracts. It can be quite lonely (and distracting) working on your own and at home. On the flip side it gives you the flexibility to spend some time watching the Tour de France or popping out for a late afternoon ride for example.

I also do two different voluntary roles both of which provide a lot of personal satisfaction (and also give me credibility in my consultancy work).

I think the next couple of years could be quite tough as public sector funding is reduced - although there may be opportunities for small consultancies such as myself who don't have all the overheads of the larger corporate firms. Onwards and upwards!

What industries are you lot working in then?

Electrical supplies to tradesmen, industry, commercial and anything that comes under local authorities, councils schools etc.

Edit; Basically I buy loads of stock and let people take it away without paying for it, and hope they do 30 days later, or 60 days or 90 days.

Self employed as a photographer. Found myself out of a job due to a radial nerve palsy about ten years ago - had to move back to my folk's house, sign on and sit about for almost a year until accupuncture (and time?) made my arm work again.

It was a blessing in disguise as I was debt free - I started off with a totally blank slate to write ideas on. Followed 'The Dream', went to uni and got a (mostly worthless) degree in fine art photography, spent a year waiting for the world to beat a path to my door and finally took it seriously, attended loads of business start up courses and became a full time social photographer.

Was helped by having a very patient and understanding partner (later wife) in full time well paid employment.

I run 1 business ft and hold equity in 2 others. The main one has 9 staff which can be problematic in itself. I've built and sold one already. Must admit I'm struggling just now, doing it yourself while rewarding takes a lot of extra effort and stress. Yep it has it's rewards but an easy life may beckon for me as I have almost had enough of fighting all the time. As others have said you need to know why you are doing it and have some experience in the field to make it fly in my opinion.

Me www.peterflynnclassiccars.com 20 years I wouldn't have it any other way - not that I would have much of a choice after all this time! If I did it for the money I would have given up years ago!!

Woodsman - I bet that is the sort of job you really don't mind getting up for in a morning - sounds a perfect way to make a living to me.

If my business ever made me enough that I could buy a nice 4 bed detached house with a garden/vegetable patch and no mortgage, I would love to do something like that from the garage.
😀

I started and sold an internet business when at uni. Since dabbled about, now do some consultancy freelance, it's ok but I've had no new ideas.

I was in a well paid job and took the scary step to go freelance. I set up my own illustration company [url= http://www.nicemonkey.co.uk ]www.nicemonkey.co.uk[/url], I must say without the back up and support from my girlfriend it would have been very hard. Now its established I just wouldn't go back to working for someone else...with this great weather I can take full advantage of it and go out on my bike without having to answer to anyone. Speaking of which I am just about to hit the trails now 😆

m_f anyone who knew me would laugh at your comment about mornings! I'm definatetly not an early morning person, but then I don't have to be - the boss is very understanding!! 😉

Yep, self employed photographer.
Was the manager in a bike shop for 8 years but did my photography as a part time thing but along came the time to make the decision-steady job, or jump for it & hope for the best.
Scariest thing I've ever done. Still very early days & working more hours than ever, but well worth it & the work load is steadily increasing.
More to do with the lifestyle I wanted more than anything else & I've now got my cycling back as a sport I love rather than a 6 day a week job!

<rubs thighs at the Elan on woodsman's site>

😀

I don't think I could hand them back after that much work!

Sort of, it's a new thing branching out from my mates Dads accountancy company. Me and said mate are only just out of uni and are trying to get our own little business going doing cheap + easy websites/photography/promo videos for local sole traders. Got quite a big client base to work from (clients from the main accounts bit) so hopefully can get a bit going. tbh I can't see myself doing it for very long though, I hate web design and living in this area of England!