Young People Starting Their Own Businesses

[Greg Bowman]

Actually gave me an idea, restoring alloy wheels?

Very good business. Just started a fast Track smart repair business last June. Bootstrapped it with credit cards/lines of credit etc from paint suppliers bit touch and go but month on month busier. Rent free for a year,then rent and rates no more than £1400 a month, newish building so light on energy (our booth is soft sided and ultra violet or infra red for curing)

Break even about 9k a month last three months 8k, 10k and 9k in Dec, losing a bit more than it looks because of startup costs etc but certainly viable.

Anyway restoring allo wheels same market. Which we have broken into 3:

Standard scuffs and dings people knocking their wheels all the time and more on personal leases so needs to look good when off lease.

Car tarting Kids and higher end cars putting special finishes on

Don't forget to attack coporate through fleet managers or HR as employee benefit. I.e on the first Monday of every month we will be in your car park (assuming mobile)

Go for it.

[olliegog]

Only if aged 25 and over! People often forget this!

apologies - I was forgetting this fact but would consider a 25 year old as still young

the rules I think are :-

You can claim working tax credit if:

* you are aged 25 or over and work at least 30 hours a week

* you are aged 16 or over and work at least 16 hours a week and you qualify for a disability element of Working Tax Credit

* you are aged 16 or over and work at least 16 hours a week and are responsible for a child or young person

* you or your partner are aged 50 or over and work at least 16 hours a week and are returning to work after claiming qualifying out-of-work benefits.

bit unfair to an enterprising under 25 year old :angry:

[winkie]

Learn a trade like hairdressing....people will always need a hair cut.....either rent a chair or be mobile, visiting those who can't get out easily..... low outgoings as you use their hot water....good business for the price of some shampoo, brushes a hair dryer and towels.

Dog grooming is another good business....people love their dogs.

[porca misèria]

Learn a trade like hairdressing....people will always need a hair cut.....either rent a chair or be mobile, visiting those who can't get out easily..... low outgoings as you use their hot water....good business for the price of some shampoo, brushes a hair dryer and towels.

If you're truly enterprising, you make an arrangement on the side with your neighbouring pie shop.

[scottbeard]

Surely, they're not attempting to start new businesses because of the recession, but because the state is no longer handing jobs out (i.e. they're not expanding the public sector). This setting up of new enterprises is happening despite the recession--because if we weren't in a slowdown and the state wasn't handing out jobs, these same 'entrepreneurs' would presumably still start their own businesses (although, perhaps, within an less testing environment).

I disagree - there will be some people who, if there was a job out there, would take it, but there isn't so they start their own business.

Loads of small businesses started when their owner was made redundant from another job.

[200p]

I was thinking more on the lines of Wonga.com, Match.com, moneysupermarket.com, moonpig.com, thetrainline.com, wowcher.com, Trivago.com etc and the other countless tv adverts on TV advertising dot com businesses.

The dot.com idea, that's where the hot money my boy! You'll get some venture capital attraction too. Hey if there is another dot com boom, so be it, just make sure you cash in your chips before the bust.

[sleepwello'nights]

Couple of enterprising lads here with a van and a ladder get a few quid a month from me for cleaning my windows. It's a niche for someone.

Coincidentally I was speaking to our window cleaner yesterday. He told me he had the potential to expand his business if he could find people to work for him. He said that new recruits started with gusto but their enthusiasm waned after a week or two. They would be given a work schedule but after a short while they would return without having completed it. Excuses would be given, occupant was out and gate was locked, then they would start having days off with tummy bugs, 24 hour flu and so on.

Admittedly the working conditions in the winter aren't great and its a minimum wage job. I don't think I would like to do it, but then I'm nearing retirement and have other sources of income. If my situation was different I'm uncertain whether I would grab a bucket and ladder, or water pole system nowadays, and go window cleaning.

His most reliable workers are foreign immigrants, which he says is a concern as he would like to employ british born. I tried to disagree with him but he was adamant that it was his experience not a preformed judgement.

BTW I've noticed there are lots of car valeting outifts springing up, we have car wash bays in our local out of town shopping centre car park, also in the town centre car park.

Back in 2001 someone suggested we should get a website together to download mobile phone ringtones; I regret poo pooing the idea, who on earth would pay for a sill ring tone I said! The killer ideas are obvious once someone else has made a success of them.

[porca misèria]

Coincidentally I was speaking to our window cleaner yesterday. He told me he had the potential to expand his business if he could find people to work for him. He said that new recruits started with gusto but their enthusiasm waned after a week or two. They would be given a work schedule but after a short while they would return without having completed it. Excuses would be given, occupant was out and gate was locked, then they would start having days off with tummy bugs, 24 hour flu and so on.

Interesting observation.

As business owners they're masters of their own fortunes and doing something positive. As employees of someone else they're in a dead-end job and going nowhere. That would explain the difference in motivations.

But there's a chicken-and-egg here. This kind of service business has virtually no entrance barrier, so the mere fact that someone would work as an employee in it tells us something: unless they're just filling time (like the youngster doing it as an alternative to a paper-round) it marks them out as someone lacking the get-up-and-go to do the same business on their own account.

[disenfranchised]

If you are a young person without much experience or qualifications, but you do have a work ethic, there's a lot to be said for income diversification. Do 35-40 hours a week in whatever McJob you can get, do a couple of hours a day on top doing something else that you actually enjoy & that pays to top this up, like a sort of paid hobby so to speak.

I used to do this when I had McJobs in the £7-£7.50 an hour range for a couple of years in my late 20's and supplemented this by doing some signwriting - if I spent all day Saturday or Sunday on a job, I could charge £60-75 and make £40-50 on it - only earned about £5 an hour when you actually worked it out, but it was a nice way to earn some extra - didn't do it every weekend by any means, but it put my take-home up to a more sustainable level and I really enjoyed doing it too

[200p]

We must have the right balance of Chiefs and Indians. There are too many chiefs, and not enough Indians, hence the requirement of immigration and the raising of tuition fees.

And no pun or joke is intended!

[200p]

Or to put it another way. Are you a follower or a leader? We have, in the powers that be view, too many leaders, and not enough followers (at the right price).

[Ologhai Jones]

I disagree - there will be some people who, if there was a job out there, would take it, but there isn't so they start their own business.

Loads of small businesses started when their owner was made redundant from another job.

I'm confused. I don't see how that's disagreeing with me.

[okaycuckoo]

Couple of enterprising lads here with a van and a ladder get a few quid a month from me for cleaning my windows. It's a niche for someone.

Window cleaning rounds are worth about £12k pa. They are often sold on to the next generation when the established guys retire.

[sleepwello'nights]

As business owners they're masters of their own fortunes and doing something positive. As employees of someone else they're in a dead-end job and going nowhere. That would explain the difference in motivations.

A similar thing occurs with cleaning firms. The cleaners they employ often poach customers and keep going on their own. No barriers to entry, but difficult to build up economies of scale.

I regard the motivation as a consequence of the benefits culture. If people didn't have the option to chose between hard work and benefits, then there would be stronger motivation. Merely my perception, not an opinion on whether it is right or wrong. Work or rely on charity. Almost certainly there wouldn't be enough windows to be cleaned or offices, shops, factories and houses needing enough cleaners to occupy the 3 - 6 million unable to get a job.

An often overlooked point is that it is difficult running your own business. You have to be a jack of all trades, worker, salesman, manager, even tea boy. Even professional types don't manage it successfully. The first steps are the hardest. Once a business has been built to a certain size it starts to look after itself. Look at the number of one man IT consultancies, one man accountancy practices, to take two examples. The market for these services is large but still there are many who don't get past the first stage of providing a "lifestyle" income for themselves. Sometimes its an individuals choice not to expand, but I guess there are many who find themselves unable to take the next step. There are many reasons, when you look at the number of time management consultancies, marketing consultancies, life coaches the common thread is they are filling the need that people need support to overcome the difficulties that they are presented with in growing their own business.

[Injin]

Interesting observation.

As business owners they're masters of their own fortunes and doing something positive. As employees of someone else they're in a dead-end job and going nowhere. That would explain the difference in motivations.

But there's a chicken-and-egg here. This kind of service business has virtually no entrance barrier, so the mere fact that someone would work as an employee in it tells us something: unless they're just filling time (like the youngster doing it as an alternative to a paper-round) it marks them out as someone lacking the get-up-and-go to do the same business on their own account.

Or the fact that the guy already has his turf marked out and if they try it he'll have their legs broken.

[happy_renting]

So spot and well put. This exactly the time to start a business:

Rubbish acounts? - everyone has them

Everyone buying on price not value - yep you have low costs

Big businesses in death spirals - yep so who is going to deliver those services

Cartels and rigging in the way - not any more Tesco shares down 20%?

Premises expensive? - Rent free deals all over the show

Exactly. Most good business models should survive a recession - they come round every few years and you have to expect them. A recession is as good a time as any to start up as long as the business provides something people want. If you can keep costs down, you can be lean and relatively debt-free, while your competitors may have to cope with loan repayments and the costs of overstocking, excess capacity and downsizing. Small new businesses can be agile.

The business that won't survive are the daft flossy ones like candle shops and nail bars. A recession clears out the dross.

[Chuffy Chuffnell]

The business that won't survive are the daft flossy ones like candle shops and nail bars. A recession clears out the dross.

Awww... I've always dreamt of opening up a candle shop and now you've shattered it!

It really is incredible the shops you find "out there". In Shropshire there are plenty of small retail premises in the market towns so you often get very niche shops... most go out of business within 6 months, but a few become well known and are successful.

(Though I suspect actually a fair few of the longer-lasting ones are where the owner is the freeholder of the shop, or at least has a good value long-term lease, AND lives above.)

Edited January 20, 2012 by Chuffy Chuffnell

[Dorkins]

It really is incredible the shops you find "out there". In Shropshire there are plenty of small retail premises in the market towns so you often get very niche shops... most go out of business within 6 months, but a few become well known and are successful.

(Though I suspect actually a fair few of the longer-lasting ones are where the owner is the freeholder of the shop, or at least has a good value long-term lease, AND lives above.)

Secondhand bookshops in historic towns are often just a hobby for the owner and wouldn't fit most people's definition of a functioning business.

[Chuffy Chuffnell]

Secondhand bookshops in historic towns are often just a hobby for the owner and wouldn't fit most people's definition of a functioning business.

Second-hand bookshops is one thing - but there not really what I had in mind (although I have just been watching all 3 series of Black Books in the last couple of weeks! ) - walk around Shrewsbury (which has 100s of little shops) and it's incredible what you find. There are shops that are selling "stuff". You walk in and you can't actually put your finger on what exactly the shop's about! And next door there'll be a similar shop again!!

Most close within 12-18 months (there is a fair bit of footfall on Shrewsbury's streets so they tend to last a little while, until people get bored/the owners discover the internet) but the premises won't be empty for long until another "niche"/"stuff" shop opens up!

For anyone who hasn't been to the capital of Shropshire, I invite you to wander around:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Shrewsbury&ll=52.706825,-2.750707&spn=0.002168,0.005681&hnear=Shrewsbury,+Shropshire,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&t=h&z=18&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=52.706888,-2.751941&panoid=m_63ieaTZ8kT4OJcD1TNbQ&cbp=12,115.98,,0,0.86

Edit: found one of the "stuff" shops on Streetview!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Shrewsbury&ll=52.706432,-2.749978&spn=0.002168,0.005681&hnear=Shrewsbury,+Shropshire,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&t=h&vpsrc=0&layer=c&cbll=52.706496,-2.751121&panoid=qMF2fhONGV2jZxS2ydkA2w&cbp=12,89.58,,0,5.74&z=18

Edited January 20, 2012 by Chuffy Chuffnell

[winkie]

Awww... I've always dreamt of opening up a candle shop and now you've shattered it!

There are certain business that are not set up intending to support a family and pay the bills....they are to keep bored housewives with husbands in very well paid jobs busy acting out their fantasy....they are probably losing money...but are worth it.

[Chuffy Chuffnell]

There are certain business that are not set up intending to support a family and pay the bills....they are to keep bored housewives with husbands in very well paid jobs busy acting out their fantasy....they are probably losing money...but are worth it.

Yes you're quite right!

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

With so many apparently educated young people, I'm surprised many don't choose self-employment over the minimum wage to £16k retail and McAdmin work many graduates now endure. I'm not talking going and getting a huge business loan or seeking investors for some grandiose scheme but just carving out an income in a less stressful and more fruitful way.

There are umpteen ways to make a few hundred quid in the space of a week and you can be your own boss. I had a friend selling vintage clothing and tat at fairs (posh car boots really) and she'd often make £400+ profit (most of the clothing was bought through bulk dealers or auctions so many pieces cost virtually nil) on a Saturday or Sunday.

Another girl I know could easily make £300 a week for 10-15 hours work as a holistic therapist which she combined with giving music lessons to form a reasonable income.

An indian guy chap I used to work with would go to markets on weekends selling phone cases and accessories (again bought bulk for pennies a piece) and sell them for £5-£10 - again, even a few dozen sales and he'd made more than an admin assistant on £7ph hour for the whole week.

I used to do events photography at balls and corporate parties. £4-£6 for a print that cost less than 0.20p in materials. £300-£700 profit for work that could be done in the evening or weekends. Yes, you need some gear, but most of it I had anyway so the printer was the only real purchase.

Okay, some of this is 'fluff' that is probably suffering in the downturn but a couple of revenue streams a month going easy work can easily top a dreary office job.

Edited January 20, 2012 by CrashedOutAndBurned

[winkie]

With so many apparently educated young people, I'm surprised many don't choose self-employment over the minimum wage to £16k retail and McAdmin work many graduates now endure. I'm not talking going and getting a huge business loan or seeking investors for some grandiose scheme but just carving out an income in a less stressful and more fruitful way.

There are umpteen ways to make a few hundred quid in the space of a week and you can be your own boss. I had a friend selling vintage clothing and tat at fairs (posh car boots really) and she'd often maybe £400+ profit (most of the clothing was bought through bulk dealers or auctions so many pieces cost virtually nil) on a Saturday or Sunday.

Another girl I know could easily make £300 a week for 10-15 hours work as a holistic therapist which she combined with giving music lessons to form an reasonable income.

An indian guy chap I used to work with go to markets on weekends selling phone cases and accessories (again bought bulk for pennies a piece) and sell them for £5-£10 - again, even a few dozen sales and he'd made more than an admin assistant on £7ph hour for the whole week.

I used to do events photography at balls and corporate parties. £4-£6 for a print that cost less than 0.20p in materials. £300-£700 profit for work that could be done in the evening or weekends. Yes, you need some gear, but most of it I had anyway so the printer was the only real purchase.

Okay, some of this is 'fluff' that is probably suffering in the downturn but a couple of revenue streams a month going easy work can easily top a dreary office job.

....all this is very true.....but the state does not want to encourage people to use their own initiative, finding the gaps in the local market place helping to make themselves more independent and self sufficient....it makes it harder to keep track of them to collect taxes due, even worse if they are topping up their benefit payments at the same time.......

That is why a healthy society always has the rich with excess cash and little time living alongside the poor with lots of time and a little cash....they both feed off each other.

[Chuffy Chuffnell]

With so many apparently educated young people, I'm surprised many don't choose self-employment over the minimum wage to £16k retail and McAdmin work many graduates now endure. I'm not talking going and getting a huge business loan or seeking investors for some grandiose scheme but just carving out an income in a less stressful and more fruitful way.

There are umpteen ways to make a few hundred quid in the space of a week and you can be your own boss. I had a friend selling vintage clothing and tat at fairs (posh car boots really) and she'd often make £400+ profit (most of the clothing was bought through bulk dealers or auctions so many pieces cost virtually nil) on a Saturday or Sunday.

Another girl I know could easily make £300 a week for 10-15 hours work as a holistic therapist which she combined with giving music lessons to form a reasonable income.

An indian guy chap I used to work with would go to markets on weekends selling phone cases and accessories (again bought bulk for pennies a piece) and sell them for £5-£10 - again, even a few dozen sales and he'd made more than an admin assistant on £7ph hour for the whole week.

I used to do events photography at balls and corporate parties. £4-£6 for a print that cost less than 0.20p in materials. £300-£700 profit for work that could be done in the evening or weekends. Yes, you need some gear, but most of it I had anyway so the printer was the only real purchase.

Okay, some of this is 'fluff' that is probably suffering in the downturn but a couple of revenue streams a month going easy work can easily top a dreary office job.

Good post.

The trouble is, from an early age people are told that they must "get qualifications, go to uni or other higher education, start a career by getting a full-time permanent job, get onto the housing ladder..."

[marcusthe]

With so many apparently educated young people, I'm surprised many don't choose self-employment over the minimum wage to £16k retail and McAdmin work many graduates now endure. I'm not talking going and getting a huge business loan or seeking investors for some grandiose scheme but just carving out an income in a less stressful and more fruitful way.

There are umpteen ways to make a few hundred quid in the space of a week and you can be your own boss. I had a friend selling vintage clothing and tat at fairs (posh car boots really) and she'd often make £400+ profit (most of the clothing was bought through bulk dealers or auctions so many pieces cost virtually nil) on a Saturday or Sunday.

Another girl I know could easily make £300 a week for 10-15 hours work as a holistic therapist which she combined with giving music lessons to form a reasonable income.

An indian guy chap I used to work with would go to markets on weekends selling phone cases and accessories (again bought bulk for pennies a piece) and sell them for £5-£10 - again, even a few dozen sales and he'd made more than an admin assistant on £7ph hour for the whole week.

I used to do events photography at balls and corporate parties. £4-£6 for a print that cost less than 0.20p in materials. £300-£700 profit for work that could be done in the evening or weekends. Yes, you need some gear, but most of it I had anyway so the printer was the only real purchase.

Okay, some of this is 'fluff' that is probably suffering in the downturn but a couple of revenue streams a month going easy work can easily top a dreary office job.

Some people would like a proper career with real prospects or jobs where they actually help people. Selling rubbish might pay more than a mcadmin job but this is hardly going to replace the satisfaction of a worthwhile career.