To ask why you may have been put off setting up a business?

[pyjamapyjama]

So I hope this isn't against Mumsnet rules, but as part of my uni course I have to take part in a debate about whether entrepreneurship is accessible. I need to argue that it isn't accessible, and one of my points is that alot of people just don't want to take the risk (financial/family responsibility, don't want to quit job, etc etc)

Have any of you ever been put off setting up a business? And why?

TIA

I did successfully run my own business for a few years. I wouldn't have taken the financial risk if dh's salary hadn't paid the mortgage.

It IS accessible. I just like clocking off. And sick pay. And annual leave.

people promise the earth and deliver nothing

The financial insecurity of not having a regular wage every month. I live alone, so have to be sure that I can pay my bills and things like late payers or not enough work could really leave me in the poop.

I ran my own company with a large premises and lots of (old) machinery. I was single, childless and straight out of the forces. No way would I be able to do that now with houses, wives and kids. I wound up the business the business as I realised i had to modernise to compete but somewhere to the tune of £1M. At the time I easy living hand to mouth and decided not to risk it. So I'd say service based business are less inaccessible than product based businesses. Obvious but worthy of note.

Since I've always said I wouldn't start another but if I were to have to i would avoid handling product for that exact reason.

For me, there are currently three large factors that deter me from starting up the business of my dreams:

1. Lack of support network in terms of childcare, and we also can’t afford nursery or a nanny.

1. Lack of time in which to source materials and make products to sell.

1. I have extremely limited driving experience, and cannot drive my DH’s large car. We can’t afford a second smaller car just for me, or to buy a different car in place of DH’s car. I therefore am not able to easily travel to source materials, or to go and sell these (I cannot do everything online).

The three above reasons act together like a vicious circle unfortunately.

I'm freelance so didn't have many upfront expenses but I did have to work pretty much unpaid for a year to get experience and a portfolio.

Friends who run businesses selling products struggle with the investment required to get stock. One friend sells card packs and to get a good price per pack she needs to order $5k worth at a time. At the start of your business that's a big scary amount of money to spend on something that might not sell.

I think it can be inaccessible as the risks can be too great and without an injection of money, cash flow is usually fatal. I didn't feel able to risk everything for a business idea.

I gave up running my business because there was too much paperwork required and the government is very effective at making a small business pay taxes and do returns on time whilst letting big outfits pay nothing. All too much hassle and risk in the end for me.

There's those who can and do and those who are content working for someone else.

There are very few of the former and many of the latter.

Its just the way it is.

Entrepreneurship isn't accessible to me at all.
I'm disabled and caught in the poverty trap. I'm on high rate ESA, disabled enough to need a carer for 14+ hours a week but I dont qualify at all for PIP (used to be DLA).

In the past, I used to be able to access a course that would support me for the first year of trading. That has been scrapped under austerity measures.
If I could find a way to be self employed I could work from home, but I dont have any safety net. I cant afford to go a single week with less income than I get now. I need CHB and Council Tax credit to get by.

(I'm facing a massive drop in income when I'm switched to Universal Credit, I cannot manage on less money and I'm not an attractive employee - I have a progressive degenerative neurological disorder that does not respond well to the very limited treatment available.
I'm genuinely scared for the future.)

Fear.

And not having any capital

And not knowing what to do as a business

Fear. That's it really. Fear about the initial outlay required, and fear of failure. I've had a business idea for a few years now, but we're pretty much on the treadmill - mortgage, bills, two young DC's, supporting older DC through university, elderly parents, working full time with very little support network. DH earns fairly well, but has long hours, lengthy commute, and sometimes works away at short notice. I work fewer hours, but juggle the DC's, house, and life 'stuff'.
I'd absolutely love to set up my business but, most of the time, I can barely find five minutes to breathe - I can't imagine where or how I'd find the time or the money for a new business set up.

I set up a small services business in the past, and found it quite easy and ran it successfully for a few years. Have had another go recently, and it was far far harder. In part because there is far more competition now, in part because it is really hard to reach customers when you are competing against larger competitors with money, time and savvy to put into their online presence.It used to be enough to put one ad in Yellow Pages.

Lack of confidence. Excellent at sales in my day job. Would love to set up my own business and backed by husband but huge self doubt. I annoy myself intensely.

My husband has set up a business and it’s four years old now. Year 2 was fabulous and all the things you’d expect from being your own boss, the other three have been hell on Earth, due largely to people paying late, refusing to pay the full amount owed, or not paying at all. Our income has dropped from £3k per month to about £500 but our bills have stayed the same. He works long long hours and the stress levels are immense. People piss him about, cancel at the last minute, drop him completely on a whin and expect him to work for peanuts. In the industry he’s in, at 46 it’s nigh on impossible to get a job. He tried for a long time but constantly lost out to younger people so starting up by himself was the only way forward. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, not unless you weren’t actually relying on the income. We’re up shit creek and can’t see any way out at the moment.

The financial side and time- I have 2 dc which takes up 90% of my time, so in order to successfully run a business I'd need them in nursery, but wouldn't be able to afford nursery without an income, which wouldn't come untill the business was actually up and running. But it couldn't get up and running when all my times with the dc

I’m in the process of slowly starting my own business. I agree the phychological barrier is one of the biggest barriers. Just going from it being a vague idea to actually doing something. Making a plan, carrying out the plan. It’s so hard!

Fear and lack of support when things go wrong.
I could go freelance my profession and probably make more money but it would involve accepting a level of risk I’m not comfortable with.
Risks being no guaranteed income, no sick pay, less flexibility because in order to compete I’d need to be full time rather than part time.

For me it's the new universal credit rules. I have to make my business make a profit large enough to pay a full time wage within a year or they will make me get other work or stop paying any top up Ben's..

I know I can build my customer base up but probably not that much that quick. It suspect I would be 50% of the way there in a year 75% in 2 years and 100% in 3. But I am not prepared to risk my savings in investing in something an unqualified outsider could pull the plug on in a year.

I will continue as an employee until my children no longer need childcare. This will mean I will get substantially more in benefits for a longer period of time - it's crazy!!!!

Dh has his own business and it’s a pain in the arse. He works

Sorry, mean to say he works all the hours, weekends sometimes, had to deal with crap employees (obv a bigger organisation you’re more supported in this) cash flow can be an issue, he finds it hard to take time off and works on holiday. He can’t really be ill (he v v rarely takes sick days unless he literally can’t get out of bed). There are advantages too like being time flexible but I could never do it!! I much prefer being employed.

Ps: he’s been doing it for 7 years and he thought he’d probably have a bigger concern than he does. Very hard to get decent staff and he never listens to my advice!!!

I am risk averse. A high percentage of small businesses seem to fail after the first year, and I don't like the odds.