to get a bit depressed at the 'woman beats recession' stories that are about really shit businesses that haven't even started

[Heroine]

I an getting a bit bored of the 'I was made reduntant and now I am starting my own recession beating bead-selling/ironing/wardrobe consultancy/dating agency business that hasn't even started, is doomed to fail and only possible because a) I can pump my large redundancy payout into it and b) because my husband is not redundant, but somehow I providing hope for any women who is not a lazy arse to make a fortune out of 'doing something she loves'

They really are patronising in the extreme and I am sure only there because you can get a nice pretty made-up shot of someone runnning a crap home-made dreamweaver business.

Ihate the way these articles are written as though any daft woman silly enough to work in something as unfeminine as a real job is a silly thing who just isn't as clever as the golddigging sponge and her fantasy business..
oh it makes me fume there are so many at this time of the year... nhmph

I started my business with a £1000 loan (not a grant but i didn't have to pay interest and could pay it back over time) from the Princes Youth business Trust.

That must have been a long time ago as i am definitely past my first flush of 'youth' so to speak (and have paid it back since).

It was the only way i could do it straight out of uni and with a DH still studying.

I dont see cath K as a hobby business...its a whole plastic commercial kinda business . Surely no comparison to the web based home made businesses we are talking about?

I also supplemented my income at the beginning with a range of pt jobs - ranging from the very dull (switchboard operator) to the more bizarre (bingo caller anyone).

or did I just spectacularly miss your point? lol

If they'd had Mumsnet when Cath Kidston launched her business, you can bet there would have been a thread titled "AIBU to think this posh woman's vintage fabric cushion business is a load of bollox?"

I would never buy cath kidston btw, its all a bit commercial and crap imo

"breatheslowly - I'm curious - are the tat gift shops that seem to populate our local town this type of business? Just how many twee photo frames and cushions can they sell?"

You don't live in Shrewsbury perchance?
Although i suppose all places in a similar vein (Harrogate etc.) will be flooded out by them. I can't see how any of them can be in profit - esp given the rise in rent recently in the area.

you can't move along the high street for pastel stuffed birds and cushions with crowns on. and especially now Next, Laura Ashley etc. have jumped on the bandwagon = the stuff is getting cheaper.

I wonder what the backlash to this will be - the next big thing....

"Infused with reiki".... JHC... Some people genuinely will believe any old shit, won't they?

Ah, but CK looks like a fluffy, flowery hobby, despite being, from what I can see, a proper business.

I started my own business 8 years ago with no start up grants,loans or any help from anyone.However,no magaine would ever be interested because it is a practical job in a male dominated industry-not very photogenic.I am about to start another business this year-am currently trialling it to see if it is viable.I agree with the posters who say that we need to encourage small businesses.

A friend of mine has a dh who fits top end kitchens £40k upwards.He does quite a few for women with rich husbands,because' they are going to set up there own cake making business'.These are also additional kitchens to the normal ones,fitted into the barn that they happen to have......

their, not there.

I know someone who is quitting their job (in this current economic climate she must be f*ing insane) to start up some weird baby massage at home type business. People are just not spending their money on stuff like that at the moment but she thinks she's going to make a mint.

HoodedCrow, with regard to this sea-of-tat enigma, could it be that (a) there is often social pressure to present a "gift" which is just an ancknowledgement, really (cf Native American potlatching - only they recycled the gifts, so not as wasteful as we are) and/or (b) which is much complex, so I am going to have to start another paragraph:

There is low pressure on banks to have business accounts repaid in full; with interest rates so low, why not let credit facilities keep rolling? Yet with interest rates so low, banks are a bit stuck for other opportunities to make money, so they might as well have regular (and increasing) income from the never-paid-off credit facilities of such businesses.

Moreover, banks are in a bit of an awkward position if there are a lot of unprofitable/samey businesses in one spot. If the business landlords also bank with these banks, the bank will have cut off the income of their clients. Even if the banks don't have any business landlord clients to worry about, they still worry about (a) not getting their capital back if they foreclose (a bit like killing the goose that lays the golden egg) and/or (b) the psychological effect of empty shops. If it looks like shops are closing down all over the place, that means a big increase in supply (shops for rent) but a big drop in demand (with empty shops around, wouldn't you be scared to open up?). Lack of demand means lack of business customers for the bank, therefore less income.... just an uncertain future. Easier to finance the "income" they are still (apparently) getting from these samey-samey-not-very-profitable shops.

Does that sound likely for the area you are talking about? I know that when the recession started, our local shopping centre lost a number of big anchor tenants, and in one case, put up a big, decorated hoarding, with the legend, "Winds of change are coming to the X". They were pretending that they were talking about balmy breezes rather than cold winds which kept that particular shopfront empty for over a year, but the hoardings did the trick of looking good, rather than looking empty and desperate.

It would certainly help if the press showed women in business. I have advised loads of women who own business in all sorts of areas, both traditionally female and male. In fact most people in the UK are employed by businesss with under 5 staff i think which is amazing when you consider how many big companies there are too so it is a very hidden part of our economy, the small business, such as mine and many other women's but that doesn't hugely matter.

I agree that those rich women in the magazines are very irritating.

But i don't agree that there is no proper business if the product is too feminine or luxury item. Ann Summers is a proper bussiness, a big one, what do they sell? Vibrators.

Laquitar: that's not the point either, it's more the idea that these entirely unorginal bits and bobs of expensive badly-handmade tat constitute a viable business when they do not.
Shitloads of 'own make jewellery' businesses fail because people realise that they can get this shit at a tenth of the price from Claire's Accessories, and most of the cutesy-hand-painted garden-trowel shit is available cheaper from B&Q.

LPSL at the idea of making my own flowery vibrator

Sorry - evidently could not type due to PMSL (that's right now, isn't it?)

I love french teatowels - a quid in france, nineteen here... le coc!! :)

i work in a 'rustic setting'. It attracts these fluffy flowers to steal plupervert's words. Much of my working day is spent trying to get rid of dealing with 'ladies who lunch' types, who have decided to try and make some money of their own by selling tat products that looks like their five year old did it with eyes shut they get most irate if i don't take their goods. They get more irate if i do and it doesn't sell. To be fair..i get 'some' great stuff (eg unusual arty bits by very talented women) but about 90% is 'anyone could do this' eg one ribbon. That's been bent around a piece of wire. (wall hanging deccie thingy)
I am polite to everyone and i do actually take time to look at everything and even the crapper umm not so 'must have' goods i will usually take if they can agree to sale or return.(maybe i'm a soft touch). But shop is now looking like a tat shop as more and more 'home crafts' take over what i was originally selling (i won't say what kind of shop it is or started out as because i don't want to be outed!)

Lolo, do any punters ever buy the stuff? Are your ribbon-wielders even savvy enough to send their mates in at intervals to shriek loudly about how unique and good value their particular ribbony wank is?

i sold two..yep to her mate. When i'm not around my wimpy male boss gets totally bullied by these actually not so flowery types of ladies! I arrive and the shop is full of ,well i've worked at playgroups and daycentres before and that springs to mind! - bits and pieces everywhere..wirey bits/ clothy bits/ mad cat lady bits...i used to love the shabby chic look but now it's more 'look what i made and i know you could make it too but you don't have time as you work full time i don't need to so buy mine instead as little Arabella needs a third pony'
I work in one of the 'shires. It really is like that i jest not. But the type of shop it is..is now dying under...the ribbons and old coffee jars filled with seasalt/essential oil blends blends of regular salt and Poundland pot pourri refresher oil

Stomach now fills with dread every time a car pulls up and smartly groomed lady steps out clutching her wicker basket (gingham lined- always) full of handiworks that i must take as are 'made by me' and what more do i need as a selling point??

Some of these businesses do make a reasonable profit though.

My circumstances are slightly different as I am not in the UK but I have a "cupcakebunting business" of the type that is regularly ridiculed on here.

It is true that we rely on my DH's income to pay the bills, but I rather resent the idea that I am some sort of "golddigger" by virtue of the fact that the income from my business is eclipsed by his salary when I actually get to indulge in a hobby during school hours that also makes me a reasonable sum of money.

Nancy, i would bet that the reason you make a reasonable amount of money would be that your items are actually made well, with care and your business treated seriously. That is the difference..at least is in my shop, with what will sell and what won't (of the taken in from outside source produce ie 'cupcakebunting' businesses)