Thursday 30 April 2009

Deep,Wide And Tall: Limited, Co-op Or Just Plain Old Me Myself And I


Okay, so you've got your product in one hand, you have a handful of leaflets left in another (the ones which you decided not to post through private front doors - remember the old intrusive lesson from yesterday?) and now you need to find a title to describe yourself.

Now, bearing in mind that you are starting with no money in the kitty what so ever - after all, if this wasn't the case and we had a nifty 10K sitting behind our backs, then we wouldn't be playing fair to our readers, so you now need to see how and where you can fit into the grand scheme we call the Tax game.

Lone Ranger

If you are sitting at your desk with no one else in the house helping you run the business/do the producing/make the tea/feed the cat during office hours/be the secretary, then you can safely bet that you are a sole trader. Now, here is the crucial bit - if, in that case, you want to trade as a sole trader, and you can do, even if you have less than 50 employees working for you, you don't need to produce any accounts for the firm, any other official documents stating the financial capacity for the company at Companies House. The next good thing that if your company is small and you intend to keep it that way, you can get away with not registering for VAT (although you must keep your business income lower than 54K a year) However, and here comes the important bit before you jump for joy, swear blind you'll never possibly earn that much and book your next holiday - IF, and there is a big IF, your business folds sensationally, as part of the Bankruptcy Acts (and yes, that B word had to mentioned, so let's please try to avoid it) the bank, can look at all your personal assets as a part of the big payback. So, being a sole trader might mean you are, to a point, unanswerable to some authorities, it does mean that there is no separation between you as a person and your business, although it does still stand as an asset, it's just that when it comes to the crunch, you may have to go down with the ship.... that little nugget is just worth bearing in mind for the future, but isn't not going to happen is it?

Simply follow this exercise for me, sit with straight backs in your chairs and very gently shake you head from side to side.... keep doing that on short occasions, keep up the marketing plan and you shouldn't go too wrong....

That leads us very neatly towards the next bit (don't worry, I shan't keep you too long today, as I can see a few yawns at the back there, but this is the important stuff and it does need to be discussed...)

Hand In Hand

If you fancy the idea of a Partnership, well then you have to ask each other a few very painful questions on the outset - it is worth doing this as a good solicitor will ask you exactly the same thing when you are sitting in front of him about to sign your life away so make sure of the following:

Remember these words: Trust. Equality (and by that, I mean that both parties need to contribute equal amounts with regard to capital.) Share (you win some, you lose some) and Say, again - this means equal say.

In a nutshell, it is everything down the middle. What you must agree on is that you won't draw a salary or interest on the money you have invested in the business individually. But, don't panic here, an agreement is an agreement and what ever you decide to sign with your partner or partners, should be stuck to - no matter what happens. If there is any doubt about your partner, (think of it like a marriage) think again about going in to business - it would be a lot less stressful on your Tod.

Limited By Name...

Probably one of the best solutions to a lot of companies still giving a certain amount of freedom for the future is to be a Limited Company - by this, the meaning is fairly simple: for a start if the ship sinks, your personal assets will remain in tact and the claimers will only take what needs to be paid back from your business. Shareholders remain untouched, if their shares are lower than the claims. This is good news if the director is also a shareholder in the company. You can also sell your shares as a way of raising funds to keep your business going.

However, and here comes the downside: There are some legal boxes that need to be ticked first before you can plunge into the world of being a Ltd. Your will need to arm yourself with a chartered accountant, especially if your profits from the firm are going to be big. As a Ltd, you can be governed by a selection of laws and rules through the Companies Act. Your shareholders can ask for the accounts to be audited if their shares are 10% or more of the business and the whole process of becoming a Ltd is expensive on the outset and does not happen overnight. If you have a few hundred quid lying around and a couple for months to kill, then it might be just the step for you, particularly if the company is going to grow with regard to it's profits. Any worries, night sweats and small fevers at the mere mention of the word finance, can be soothed by visiting the following... www.businesslink.gov.uk they are the first stop, one shop for most business ventures, just like mine. They are a wealth of information and advice and are a must for anyone wishing to join the small business game. If you want to find out more about the different types of company you can set up and their differences, then go to www.companieshouse.gov.uk, again, you will find all you need about who, where and why you should call your company which ever suits you best....

Now go and put the kettle on and here endeth the lesson for today....

onemum2009

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Day Two: Swine Flu, Flyers And Beating The "Giving Up" Feeling


The excitement of going it alone and "sacking the boss" as many of the scams put it does have it's limitations when it comes to putting the right activities in order. I guess, the worst thing to face when starting up a business for the first time is deciding the best place to start. I keen mistake I made was trying to to a lot of things all at once as there is a tendency to try to be everything from financial director to tea lady all at the same time, and when your tea is better tasting that the account books, then you know you might need a helping hand...

One of the first things which needs to be done is a business plan (and yes, I can hear your groan from here,) it sounds dull and uninteresting but it needs to be done for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most important one is that you need to see what it is you want to do, on paper - when something is written down in front of you, it suddenly appears human with legs and feet and eyes staring back at you. You give it depth and purpose. It is only then that you can be comfortable with how the business is going to run and what it is going to achieve for you and your market.

Aha! She's mentioned the M word, yes, marketing and I am not talking about strolling around the shops taking your mind of the job (which and I will warn you now, DOES happen so try to concentrate on something else rather than saying "to Hell with it" and nipping in to town!) Skipping gaily down the road to success hand in hand with your business plan complete with flip charts, will be your marketing plan, and if the first didn't make you think, this second plan will.

Suddenly that baby (and it will be your baby because that's how you will refer it as) needs some guidance if it is going to get you anywhere. The first thing you will have to do is think about is the following:

1. Who your customers are!

2. Where they are at present AND if you were them, how would you go about tracking them down for the service or product you are going to provide? Start thinking the way your customers think and you are half way there to throwing the net and gathering them in out from the cold...

So as I was saying regarding the giving up thing - there will be times when you think that the sky outside your window looks so enticing today and that you just might go and have a cup of tea and sit out in the garden for just a little while - but DON'T. Business - any business needs commitment and lots of it and that cup needs to overflow with it. Get the plans over and down with before you sit down to catch up with the news on how swine flu is taking a hold (don't let that stop you going out to fish the flyer's) this is when you will find that being self employed needs an element of self discipline - after all, no one is going to do the running around for you, so before advertising beyond belief, track down the best ways to do that advertising - will your customers read the local free papers? This is a good place to start, it will cost you nothing (we love that word) and the papers will be circulated everywhere for you, so no running about burning up petrol. Will your customers read something if you put it through the door?

Here is a sore point - look out for the "No Canvassers" notice on the door and take note of it - you need to set up a good reputation so start as you mean to go on. Secondly, if you are running your business from home, would you be happy to put your details through some one's private front door? Many people won't be so if you want to sleep soundly at night, bear that in mind - if your business is going to be home based, don't forget it is your home, and probably someone elses as well, so keep it private...

onemum 2009

Tuesday 28 April 2009

Starting A Business From Nothing Or I How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love Unemployment


(Previously from The Sound Suite Cocoon and the same author)


Dear Folks,

The time has come to take a different turn - I shall explain further...

After twenty odd years of drifting from one substandard job to another, I finally jumped ship from my fairly secure life in the public sector and decided to completely loose my marbles and go it alone. Naturally this meant jumping every conceivable ship I had sailing in my local waters (home, car, life etc) and totally sending out for the little men in white coats, yes, I was going to start my own business...

Gulp! So there I was no money (and I mean, no money) not a lot to sell - I am not destined to become some flashy designer, or inventor, but what I could do was the same secretarial stuff I had been doing for the last three years - aha! That would be it - I would start up a VA (virtual assistance job to the rest of you) company and work from home..

Let's hold it there - working from home - let's repeat that little glittering phrase for just a second - it sounds wonderful doesn't it - "work from home" so I will tell you where I went wrong with this initial starry eyed approach and we'll move on...


Working from Home or Waking Up to the sheer scam of it all

Okay, so I started to give up my job (boo, hoo!) and look for work on the Internet for a suitable working from home job. Let me cut to the chase here - there actually isn't one. What happened started off on the right foot - all those wonderful millions of pages just waiting for me to crawl through after I had put in my three worded search - what luck - all these pages of Google wonderland just waiting for me to read! As you would have expected, after the three Google page, the old momentum left me and the bladder was starting to fill, so off to the loo, and back but with just enough time to reconsider my approach and my three worded search and on to to something a little more tangible.

How about.... "genuine work from home jobs" Yes, that sounds more like it! I searched only to find a load more scams telling me, "NO THINS IS THE REAL THING! JUST SIGN HERE, SEND US $250 AND WE WILL GIVE TO PERMISSION TO SACK YOUR BOSS, BUT HURRY, THIS IS A LIMITED OFFER AS OF TOMORROW MORNING, IT WILL COST YOU $465!!!

Sigh.....

Okay, so that search didn't work so I moved on to a whole long list of other rewording scenarios which all led me back to the same scam, and after all this clicking I was doing unexpectedly to this website, was allowing the geeky nerd sitting with his PC programmes in his bedroom, more money that I could ever dream about...

Double sigh!

After several dozens of hours and a sore bum later I decided that the world was not going to give me a good genuine deal as much as I tried and tried to look, so there was only one more thing to try - I could work for myself. All I needed to do was a bit of advertising, a couple of leaflets and some groovy business cards and I would be away!

But, wait. I figured, now sitting here in my same old tracksuit bottoms and my messy makeshift office (the spare room without a bed) would anyone really want to hear this or would I simply be typing for my own therapy? So I will tell you what, drop me a line and I will keep typing tomorrow!

onemum 2009