To think that not everyone is cut out to be a “business owner”

[Ffwithfu]

I’m probably being unreasonable but run a business that supports small business. Over lockdown I’m sorry to say that I’ve seen so many people that have no fucking clue thinking they can “start a business”.
From those who have no skills, to those who have done no actual research into the market. I’m fed up with the world and his wife thinking they can “run a business.

Never knock somone trying to earn a living

Never knock somone trying to earn a living

I agree.
I wouldn't want to go to the OP for business advice with such a bad attitude.

Speakout it's a good point you make there. OP runs a business supporting small business...so these people are paying her. Don't piss where you eat OP.

Yes, I agree. I'm an admin on a very large local facebook parenting group. The number of people who seem to base their advertising strategy on spamming a facebook page which does not allow sales or business posts and is not directly related to their product is astounding. It also doesn't look professional when they throw a hissy fit because their posts are deleted.

@FortunesFave
Do you think people really asked her that? About who would be paying their wages now they're self employed??

Yes, it wasn’t a joke, she was trying to justify her BS.

She got away with it because some people really are that daft. I hear of intelligent people who imagine they have a business because they have a website and headed notepaper.

You only have a potential business when you start trading (a steep learning curve); you only have an established business when you make a net profit.

It's not about knocking the want to earn a living but whether it's realistic.

My brother is very clever. When he was made redundant he started his own business. He was terrible at it and ended up losing his home .

Some people are just lazy and don't want to learn, but you get that anywhere. I know some people who aren't particularly bright running successful businesses and very smart people who have low stress tolerance or just don't understand other people, which you need to run a business. I think you might find that if your customers are parents of young children, it might be an issue of time rather than intelligence, and as you are being paid to advise them that's why they are asking you the questions - if you pitch yourself as an expert I'm not sure what you really expect? I'm sure people have looked into how you get customers, but they are asking you as you have more experience to see if they might be missing something. If it is their first business they all have to start somewhere, surely?

There’s a huge rise in people selling coaching services for things they have no business advising others on too. It’s really frustrating when you’ve worked hard your whole career and seemingly everyone is an expert now over night.

I wasn't cut out for it. As an employee I am a brilliant sales person. My job is to make as much money as possible for my employer and I take great pride in being excellent at that. When I decided to monetise my hobby and had my own company I was very diffident about maximising my profit. Because I was the one to benefit it stopped being an enjoyable challenge and felt greedy. I also hated the absence of a home/work boundary. I did it for about 4 years, made a small profit and then gratefully seized an excuse to close it down. It's taken 13 years for me to return to the hobby I loved. Having to do it for a living sucked all the joy out of it.

I've been saying this a lot recently...I own 2 totally different businesses and am currently working circa 70 hrs a week. I've seen so many people start businesses from home, selling food without being registered, prosecco afternoon teas with no alcohol licence and 3 food takeaway businesses have opened in my area with no planning permission! If they can miss something so basic i would be willing to be they are not registered with the FSA, no P/L & E/L, probably haven't registered with HMRC. There is so much more to running a small business than just the product. Then these people undercut "proper" businesses because they have much lower overheads! Infuriating!

I think we should be tring to remove fear and barriers to setting up small businesses, not making more imaginary hurdles.

For women tied to care - small children for instance a small business can be a life saver.
Setting up in business can be far easier than many people think.
I would encourage anyone to give it a go.
Don't invest too much financially, and don't give up any other job until you start to turn a healthy regular profit- and don't employ any self styled business advisor.
Otherwise go for it.

@speakout unfortunately women with small children are often the ones targeted by, and falling for, MLMs. The amount of women local to me trying to sell FM, Avon, Bodyshop etc is ridiculous. They are sold the dream that it's easy to fit in around family but as we know they often end up losing money nevermind making any.

My second was born when we had just started our first business...I had virtually no maternity leave, worked with dd strapped to me, and we certainly had no time off at all. We have a second business now, and a third opening in the new year. I encounter what I can only assume is a bit of jealousy but only my close friends know how hard I work to be successful. I am up now to bake all day to stock my shop, which I'll open at 7am tomorrow before I have staff in at 9am, then I'll go and do a physical days work at my other business before coming home to bake more for the following day, and that's my week on repeat at the moment!

lanbro

I do understand the hard work- I run a successful small business, and work 7 days a week.
But I love what I do and my efforts translate directly into cash in my pocket.
I agree about the MLMs, but every activity has pitfalls.

Totally agree.

I don't really class myself as running a small business but I'm self-employed and work for myself from home as a freelance writer/researcher. I have lost count of the number of people over the years who have said they'd love to do what I do. On the face of it, some have the skills in that they can write coherent English. But when it comes to the rest of it - determination, resourcefulness, time management, organisation of invoicing and getting paid, doing your tax, dealing with demanding customers - they have no clue.

I don’t get it OP. I’m a lawyer, people pay me to tell them the law so I’m delighted when they don’t know anything about it. Why are you annoyed that these people need your help, when that is the whole point of YOUR business?

Maybe the OPs post is badly worded but yes, I agree, many people don't seem to have a clue how to run a business. But it always amuses me how many people seem to end up in the wrong job, I work in retail - of course my job is to sell and be polite to my customers - it's not rocket science but the number of people who can't seem to offer basic customer service is sadly depressing.

A lot of people have no idea about pricing, either buyers or sellers. You see it all the time with cake businesses. My friend had a very successful cake business for years. A birthday cake cost maybe £80. Which was fair because the ingredients had to be covered, plus overheads, and they were works of art that took hours and hours of her time. She was so busy she constantly had to turn bookings away, and she had a great reputation. She closed her business in the end because it wasn't worth the hassle. She was spending hours every day answering the phone to enquiries then having to deal with the caller having a tantrum about the price quoted, because Sally on Facebook will do it for £20. Well, go to Sally on Facebook then. She might be doing it for £20 now but when she does her accounts at the end of the year and sees in black and white that she has made a huge loss because she hasn't actually covered her costs, she'll not be doing it for £20 any more.

People not working out their costs leads people to accuse competent business owners of overcharging.

Marking a place to come back to this later. (need to focus on getting out some work for a client today).

@speakout absolutely, you have to love what you do because it is all encompassing! My point was that people see the fruits of your labour and think it's easy, with absolutely no idea of the amount of work you have to put it!

I agree that not everyone is capable of it but at least people are trying, so many people have lost jobs this year, should they sit around on benefits for ever or do something productive?

I wouldn't like to be self employed or run a business, I think you have to dedicate so much work and time to it and I can't be arsed with that, I like to do my job and then forget about it when I walk out of the door.

I was surprised at how easy it was to start and run a small business. I’ve run two different ones over the years- part-time. It’s not all that hard if you do the research. They were very much supplemental to the main income, though.

Having your own business and being your own boss is often touted as being the dream, but honestly for me I couldn't think of anything worse, I've been lucky to have always had amazing managers, I love being a cog in the corporate machine and the security that comes with it: guaranteed income, sick leave, annual leave, training, excellent pension etc etc. I do work very flexibly though, I would struggle in a role that required your attendance at set times. I'm an intelligent woman but I think I'd be terrible, the thought of anything sales related makes my blood run cold (if sales in anyway), the thought of no guaranteed income and it being on my shoulders to build that business...terrifying!

My husband wants to go self employed in a few years, as above it makes my blood run cold, I will make him go for every kind of training available to him!!!!

Well, they’ll learn, won’t they? Not sure why it annoys you.

I agree with the OP. Far too many people are totally unsuited to running a business. Despite what some posters have said, there are usually very few barriers to setting up a business in the UK and that's the problem. Many trades/professions have very low barriers to entry, meaning literally any Tom Dick or Harry can start one. You're often disadvantaged if you try to do things properly, by having taken professional qualifications etc because you're then bound by your professional body rules which someone without qualifications doesn't have to comply with. In the UK, anyone can start a business at a moment's notice as there is no official approval procedure (unlike many other countries). If you wish you can form a limited company in an hour or so for just £15 (or even free with some formation agents). You can register as an employer or for VAT with just a few clicks on the gov website which laughingly people regard as some kind of "proof" of your legitimacy. You can get your employers liability by a few clicks of your mouse for a couple of hundred pounds in just 5 minutes. I'm really not sure why so many people think it's so hard and full of hurdles to start a business - anyone can do it in an hour or two. That's why we have so many "rogue" tradesmen, amateurs, etc - uninformed customers think that a business being a limited company, being VAT registered, having staff, etc makes them legitimate - it doesn't at all - they're all so easy to register for.

Of course, starting a "proper" business, and doing things properly and by the book is a completely different thing. Especially if you have to deal with your local council for food hygiene, H&S, planning permissions, lease of premises etc - local councils are often absolutely awful to deal with and everything takes months. Same if you want to do it properly with a professional or trade association - you have to jump through their hoops at their speed, which those who don't have trade/professional qualifications don't have to bother with.

So, yes, if you want to do things properly and have qualifications/professional body behind you etc., then it can be hard to jump the hoops, but sadly, the travesty is that it's unbelievably quick and easy for people who want to set up in a shoddy manner, without professional body, without qualifications, etc to set up, often in direct competition. It's such a shame that customers/clients don't really understand that and will often select shoddy businesses just because they're cheaper and then whinge on SM about the entire profession in the ignorant bliss that they weren't actually dealing with a professionally regulated firm in the first place!

It''s like the firms who whinge that they can't get council/public sector contracts because of the formalities of the tender process etc - basically just checking they have pl/product insurance, H&S policies, HMRC registrations, professional/trade body registration, complaints procedures, quality control, etc. Er, yes, that's what "proper" business is all about! Your local hospital really isn't going to give a contract to Joe Bloggs who has no professional/trade qualifications and pays his unregistered workers cash in hand every Friday.