Business People / Entrepreneurs

Maccapacca

Maccapacca

Maccapacca

Tea Drinker
Don
Joined
13 Apr 2010
Posts
18,502
Location
Sunny Sussex
What makes an entrepreneur?

I've wanted to start my own firm for many years but can't get away from the PAYE ingrained streak in me. My father has always drummed in work, paying the mortgage and look after your family etc which in some ways is correct but I'm wanting more than a 7-5 place to sit, I'd like to be really bothered about a business success.

I know a few entrepreneurs that do not seem to have that PAYE culture, I can run business checks on people and businesses, when I look they have complicated affairs and it seems have tried and failed and tried and succeeded many times which I respect.

What do you think would be the kick up the rear to get going apart from redundancy? any experiences?
 
Depends what you wanted to do i guess.

Could you not get the ball rolling while still working? It might take longer but atleast you still have your income intill your ready to go it full time
 
I could spread into hourly paid work, consultancy work and also contracting / developments quite easily, so the work would be varied and suit home life with the wife and kids.

I could start whilst working but that would be a big ask, I'm so flat out here I'd be worried about it affecting what I do day to day, how long do you think it would take?
 
Thats just it, depends if if you want to go into it as a full time job.
I started a business 12 months ago with £1500. I have just finished my first year and am very happy with the progress of it.
I have been doing it alongside my full time job, and do not get me wrong, it is difficult, with many late nights, but it will be worth it in the end. I do not have a family the same as you do, just a fiancee, but find I have less time for myself than I used to, of course!
 
In my opinion, the first thing you need is a goal - a definite endpoint and a plan to get you there over however many years. Other entrepreneurs have told me you shouldn't do this and should "enjoy the journey" but, in my opinion, if you're making the personal, emotional and (at least initially) financial sacrifices to be your own boss, there needs to be a big reward at the end.

Making the leap depends on your committments. If you've got a family and a mortgage you're going to need to be very sure of yourself before giving up your steady income.
 
Hmmm I'm thinking I can start the hourly paid work and consultancy work whilst here then build a balance to start contracting, that would probably be the break away point of being employed.

I think it would be me getting it all lined up in my head first, maybe a life coach :p
 
How long it takes varies entirely on what you are going to do or sell, how prepared you are to hit the ground running, how good you can make new contacts and get customers on board, whether your marketing is doing its job...

I started 18 months ago from zero and have built up enough work to pay myself each month, not as much as previous jobs, but give it another 6 or 12 months I think I could be earning a fair bit more. Just don't expect to be making loads in 3 months or something else its not for you.
 
The harder you will work, the more you will earn and achieve.

You sound like you have too many commitments to simply drop the day job and pursue your business idea full time, so do it on the side. You will have less time at first to spend on yourself / with your family, but that is a consequence of your decision. In the long run, if it does pick up, it should enable you to spend more time with them in the future with greater means to fund them.

The only ''kick up the rear'' you need is to make this decision to push yourself and work harder. If you can't do this, you'll never break out of your day job working for someone else.
 
not really an entrepanuer (sp) personally buy i went from being in the employment of a large organisation working a 9-5 monday to friday gig to working for myself. personally for me it was being made redundant from my job that forced my hand i decided to go into the taxi trade. Totally different from what your thining probably but the principles are the same, I went into this with my eyes open. and whilst i found myself working 100 hour weeks to start with(and yes i still do a lot of sily hours) i've managed to progress my business from being myself and working through a large taxi company. to taking on council contracts and expanding beyond just working myself. in my case it was taking the plunge to purchase a second and subsequently other vehicles for renting out to other people and investing what i was making as to give a decent return.

one thing i would say about starting from scratch is be prepared to work lots of hours, do lots of networking and getting to know people who are in your field a good percentage of my growth has come from being in the right place right time, for example finding drivers and getting offered vehicles at the right price. and in fairness i would be nowhere near as far on as i am today without knowing people in the trade and utilizing contacts.

personally i do have a long term goal and have an idea in my head about expansion(lack of capital is my main issue though) so it will be slow and steady going. just be prepared to make a lot of sacrifices along the way and understand its a lot harder than working for the man in a 9-5 especially when things dont go right
 
Money, its the only motivation you should need in the way of a kick up the arse.

If you cant bring yourself to take the plunge, slowly try to siphon some clients from where you work now with a proposition, then start taking on private work till that income equals or exceeds what you get now.

That will mean longer hours as you are effectively doing two jobs but its the alternative to leaving the safety of PAYE behind completely at first.
 
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Most people will only do something like this if their hands are forced. Very very precious few have enough courage and willpower to set out on their own. People complain about their lot but it still happy to cling on to the few scraps thrown at them, all in the name of familiarity and fear of the unknown.

Start by working for yourself on a contracting basis. I do this. Prepare to network like crazy in the beginning to get your name out there. Work like a demon, do a good job for your clients and they will keep coming back. I'm still not where I want to be. Right now I turn a lot of work down as it's all same old same old. I want to work on massive projects, the types you would see a documentary of on the Discovery Channel. I want to run the whole damn show.

Have crystal clear targets for the long term, have targets for the short term. Make sure you reach them. Remember, nobody will know if you didn't reach them, only you, and you're only letting yourself down. Targets could include nailing down a business idea, canvassing for business by contacting X amounts of potential clients, putting yourself through additional training courses, etc etc.

Now, for a success story. One of my ex employee's started up his own firm. He worked for me for 3 years and a skilled labourer on some of the sites I've managed. He went out and started up a contracting firm supplying skilled labour to the construction industry. He purely spent the three years working himself to make contacts and network. Most lunchtimes he would be seen networking, talking, making friends, building relationships. You get the idea. Long story short, he now has over 450 subbies working for him on various contracts. Two years after setting out his company owns 34 vehicles, spends around 70k a year on training courses for his guys, and had a gross income of just over 3 million for the year. He is set to increase that by 30% this year. Not bad for a bloke that was shovelling trough routes for £15 an hour 3 years ago.
 
I run my own home based business with my wife. Our goal at the moment is a 5* all expenses paid trip to NY next year :)
 
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