What business did you set up?

Spit

Spit

Spit

Permabanned
Joined
8 Nov 2003
Posts
6,743
Location
Yorkshire
There are always a few threads about business and setting them up. There are also quite a few people who have said they have set there own businesses up. What did you set up and how are you doing? SpeedFreak has told us about his experiences and it sounds great. Well done and good luck.

The missus and I set up an estate agents 13 months ago partly inspired by the need for good photography and driven by my involvement in the ocuk photography forum :) We started with 1 property and we have around 50 on the books now. We do this working from home and using the local press and internet. Its doing well and we are looking forward to the future.

So what do you do?
 
I set up a one-man-band home callout computer repair business in 2002. End of 2004 I was swamped with work and couldn't cope and was thinking about taking someone else on but couldn't *quite* afford it. All was going well and I had big plans but I started losing interest in it and I let it slip.

Went back into employment in Nov 2006 which I kind of regret in some ways but love in others. Sometimes you just need to see a small slice of a much bigger cake is worth it.
 
I set up an IT company in August 2006. So far, it's going well - I deal with small businesses and schools, and have a customer base which is growing fairly quickly.

I still work part time to guarantee some income but I've just started to cut down hours on this as I'm getting really busy. I'm really enjoying it, and I wouldn't change it for anything :cool:
 
Spit said:
... good photography and driven by my involvement in the ocuk photography forum :) We started with 1 property and we have around 50 on the books now. We do this working from home and using the local press and internet. Its doing well and we are looking forward to the future.

So what do you do?
Click to expand...

Just read your post. Must check out the ocuk photo forum.
You make money from photography?
 
Cybershot said:
I set up an IT company in August 2006. So far, it's going well - I deal with small businesses and schools, and have a customer base which is growing fairly quickly.

I still work part time to guarantee some income but I've just started to cut down hours on this as I'm getting really busy. I'm really enjoying it, and I wouldn't change it for anything :cool:
Click to expand...

You tried BNI:

http://www.bni-europe.co.uk/


I dont make money directly from photography but the forum taught me to use a camera and I competed and won in the competition.
 
I setup a company selling custom made gaming PCs in 2002 (high end market before alienware came to the UK).
I also setup a website at the beginning of the free-image-hosting boom which made me a few ducets :D
 
I started a PC repair business around 2001 working from home. All VAT Registered and VAT registered. It did quite well until I realised the limitations of it. I then expanded into selling components and full systems. The main revenue stream was via the bay as I expanded enough to give up my day job.

By end of 2004 start of 2005 the business was turning over close to £130,000 per annum on systems and peripherals Not bad working from home part time eh ? All receipts and invoices cover my claim. Well it's not all peaches and cream working in Computer Sales trying to make a living but not taking 100% risk on it. I also picked up a few local businesses being like their on site support etc. But they took advantage of my good will/niavety(sp?). They knew that when they ordered a new suite of PC's for their office I would foot the bill through the credit we offered to them and they had no intention to pay. Subsequently we carried over £15,000.00 worth of debt from them. Our downfall was that we became too reliant on the eBay for our income. Anyone can sell PC Parts or systems cheap. Stack it high sell it low. Once you get in that arena it's had to stem the flow and turn into added value selling rather than higher volume lower margin

The real problem was that although the turnover was pretty good their was very little profit. So when you factored in eBay fee's plus other fees such as having a merchant account with Barclays and having to wait 45 working days for payment from them it was always doomed to failure. Ultimaltely we wound the business down with no debt with just under £10k worth of personal expenses to make sure it desolved with no debt. No customers lost any money nor did any suppliers.

My advice is make sure you know your market and your market around you. If your going to commit to working for yourself then do it 110%. There was many a time I worked a full week of 38 hours in my day job come home for 18:00 then be up building pc's till 1,2 3 in the morning.

Then there is the admin side of things. Get in bed with the right bank as well. We made the mistake of moving our business bank from Abbey National to Barclays. Their practical business advice was terrible Ultimately we eneded up buying a load of added value services from them such as accounting packages and the like. All it served was there cash flow not theres. Then factor in advertising on Yellow Pages and other publications. The costs can mount up. Shop around for your business banking and make sure that you get an imparial view on your business plan. Do your research on your business, your customers and your market.

A hard luck story ? Not on your life. I learned more in those 3-4 years than I ever could in my Blue Chip Account Managers role I did along side it. It was a fantastic experience and the thrill of owning your own business is second to none. Although weekends involved 18 hours of sales, system building, customer care, administration it's the greatest sense of freedom you can ever have in your vocational life. If you want true job satisfaction then you need to make your own rules and have the conviction and the balls to live by them.

Would I do it again ? 100 % yes. More than anything in my work life I want to work for myself rather than someone else. Don't get my wrong I have a good basic salary and a good bonus but it just doesn't compare to being the captain of your own ship. I'm lucky I learned a lot from a business that didn't work out. Thats something that I could never get from a suit sat behind a desk in a bank. Cliche time you can't put a value on experience.

Remember 90% of businesses fail first time round. You could be one of the 10% if you plan it right.
 
Affiliate marketing working from home, I am also trying to build myself a network of content driven websites.

I only finished work on the 5th Jan, the 12 months I spent in an office I found extremely claustrophobic. How people religiously devote their life's for the progression of others I also found very worrying. Some of the people I used to work with could earn 5 times the salary if they worked for themselves, yet their blind contention keeps them chained to their desks earning a pittance whilst the clueless big wiggs are drinking pina coladas on one of many holidays.

:)

on wards and upwards
 
Cybershot said:
I set up an IT company in August 2006. So far, it's going well - I deal with small businesses and schools, and have a customer base which is growing fairly quickly.

I still work part time to guarantee some income but I've just started to cut down hours on this as I'm getting really busy. I'm really enjoying it, and I wouldn't change it for anything :cool:
Click to expand...

Interesting to know, as I'm hoping to set up my own IT company in the coming months.

I know it's a HUGE market out there, and you need to offer a service that no-one else can in order to get anywhere, but I'm feeling confident.

I've got a good friend who's set up his own security guarding training company who I do a bit of computer related work for every now and then, and he's said he'd get me a few contracts.

I can only hope :)
 
Started selling webhosting from a reseller account in 2002, formed a company in 2003, in 2007 having acquired a number of other companies we now host many tens of thousands of websites (est. 50,000) if you count dedicated + co-lo clients. Blood, sweat and tears all the way but very rewarding.
 
I've set up 5 limited companies in the last 20 years in the UK and two overseas. 3 out of the 5 in the UK continue to this day, only one of which I am still involved in. Having moved overseas, I set up a company that is quite diverse in that it manufactures a range of products that could be generally classified as cleaning and personal care products. I've also set up a trading company that trades various commodity items. I do have other companies that I have not included above for no other reason than they are holding companies, established in various offshore jurisdictions for tax purposes.

I'm currently about to incorporate another company that will be involved with establishing a modest plantation (and associated oil mill) in an asian country.

I too was interested in Speedfreak's endeavours, I wish him luck :)
 
Loki said:
Get in bed with the right bank as well. We made the mistake of moving our business bank from Abbey National to Barclays. Their practical business advice was terrible
Click to expand...

Ive never set up my own company but i have a few friends who have, everyone of them started with Barclays and have such moved on.

My gf works for a picture frame/mirror manufacturing company, its original owner was making a turnover of £4 million a year, he then sold it to a group of guys who basically ran it into the ground after just a year (very long story but dodgy dealings). It went bust just before xmas and we lost our jobs, a guy from London bought it and took her back on and 2/3's of the staff.

We all know it can make money and it is, the problem he is having is that his barclays business manager keeps refusing to pay checks which makes them bounce, this causes them trouble with customers, they cant get any credit accounts so have to pay up front putting more financial strain on the company. We know it can make money, a lot of money but its hard going.

I have been thinking of setting up my own company, one of two ideas. websites for local companies with 2 friends including IT support, only 2 shops round here do it. One is owned by an ex-con/drug dealer and the other is highly over-priced. The second, car parts for rare cars and future classics.

The question is, do i want to take the risk having just bought our first house and looking towards a wedding and family?? Its a very big risk!!
 
A few years ago myself and a few mates were out on our motorbikes. My mate in front of me came off and is in a wheelchair, disabled from the waste down. Prior to the accident he was a very successful manager in the pub trade.

As you can imagine life changed for him significantly.

He started like many others have commented upon selling on the auction site. At first small electronic radio control parts for electric flight models from home. This then grow into an internet based company.

To cut to the chase... He is now about to stop working from home and move into premises. His partner gave up her job, he took on one member of staff and is about to take on more. His turn over is approx £250,000 and growing significantly. He has also managed to get into the world record books last year regarding electric model flight which was televised.

So as others have said it can be done albeit with a bit of good business luck and skill.

I mention this as when he first started selling he asked if I wanted to go into the market with him for £1000.00. I said no thanks m8 :rolleyes:

Not bitter at all just very pleased for a m8 that made something good come from a horrific accident.
 
About 18 months ago myself and a friend setup a limited company manufacturing Bathroom Cosmetics from our garages in our spare time.

We now own a 3.5 thousand square foot factory.

Still haven't really taken any cash out yet as rather than take staff on we are purchasing machinery and getting an engineering company we know to make custom machinery for us.

We do have someone working for us from a government scheme, he is a chav - but he is actually a nice lad and he'll be starting working for us properly next week.
 
agw_01 said:
I know it's a HUGE market out there, and you need to offer a service that no-one else can in order to get anywhere, but I'm feeling confident.

I've got a good friend who's set up his own security guarding training company who I do a bit of computer related work for every now and then, and he's said he'd get me a few contracts.
Click to expand...

Sounds good.

I've been building and supporting home user PC's for ages before the company. Then, I started looking after dad's company network and things kind of went from there. I tend to avoid doing home user stuff now - far too focussed around keeping things cheap imo. Luckily I had some good contacts - and this combined with word of mouth has resulted in getting some quite good work. In the coming month I'm completing some database work, installing a 20-computer + server network in a school, alongside bits and bobs of web design and anything else that comes up. Also, I've just finished developing a CMS system designed especially for schools, and have had a couple of sales of that so far - so things are looking up! :)

If you want to chat about stuff then feel free to add me to MSN, it's in my trust.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom