To start a business

[ShallIstart]

Has anyone in the last year started a business and it has been successful?
I have a lot of experience in my area of expertise and want to go out on my own.
I am in the UK and due to so much negativity in the press about the economy, looming war etc I am wondering if it is too risky.
I am the main earner in the house, 2 DCs, currently in full time employment.

Aibu to think it can work and a business thrive in todays economy.
I am interested to hear from people who have managed to grow a business recently and make it work.

YABU - no, dont do it, economy and world issues are impacting growth.

YANBU- go for it, things are good for business right now.

Thanks :))

What business are you thinking of starting?

What kind of business are you talking about?

Have you looked at the figures? What kind of investment would you need upfront? What are your overheads/ expenses? Where is your revenue coming from? What's your route to a decent income for yourself? Profit?

My DH has his own business and it's very hard work. He works far more hours than he did in professional employment. It also took a reasonable amount of time before he could take a salary. He's doing well now, but it took many years to get there.

I also work for a (very) small business and the owner works round the clock.

But it depends a lot on what you need to put in at the upfront. If you need to sink a lot of money in at the start in equipment, premises, stock - that's very different from a consultancy style business where you could be making money from the get go.

Regardless, don't underestimate the workload. It will be intense.

Totally depends on the business, your expertise and the market for what you’re offering.

We started a family business a decade ago with about £1500 and working out of our garden shed. It now has well over £1mil annual turnover, 5 employees and a large commercial premises. During COVID, when lots of retail businesses were going under, ours was growing by leaps and bounds because people suddenly had leisure time and wanted to be outdoors as much as allowed. It’s only grown since. Means we both only need to really work PT now in our 40s.

It wasn’t my main income (is for Dh though), but I’ve recently left my job and will eventually be starting back up as self-employed. But in a very niche role with a high demand market.

I think the key is what you can do while not leaving your day job initially, not blowing loads of money on unnecessary start up expenses, whether any changes to import duty/tariffs/etc will impact you, and your social media marketing skills.

What was the nature of the business you set up?

I'd test the waters by doing business as a side hustle whilst keeping your full time job I told you can see you will be successful.

I think it depends on what your business idea is, if you need premises, staff etc

We have friends who run a business, they never seem to stop, even on holidays and weekends they’re answering emails.
I think you’ve got to be very passionate about the business, as well as being hugely realistic in terms of time and cost.

Our turnover is 4 million but it’s never ending work

Depends on the nature and thinking outside the box.
I built mine in the last 6 months. Make 20k monthly.
It is an online service. Cost me 0.

Is the profit good with that turnover

About 30%. But of course then you give it all back to hmrc as corporation tax. It does make you wonder what is the point tbh.

Put it in trusts / overseas

Wow that’s amazing, well done! Is it very niche, or could anyone do something similar? Did you train to do that job?

You only have to give 25% of your profits to hmrc?

Put it in trusts / overseas. Oh dear. Charlie is not a international tax expert. Don't listen to this

I’m not no
but the right advisors / accountants are

I would start with a basic "honest" analysis calculation, vitally, do them independently of each other as much as possible

Start with a realistic estimation of sales for the first year, cross checked to what that would mean per day / hour.

Then estimate every costs, for the first year including
Cost of product / materials (based on the volume of sales)
Staff, including NI, wages, payroll services, holidays, sickness
Premises, business rates
Banking, loan repayments
Insurance
Theft
Damaged, expired stock.
Your wages, even if minimal
Advertising / marketing
Legal fees
Register company etc.
Accountancy costs
percentage of equipment costs, and building alterations.
Delivery, petrol, parking
Anything else that will cost the business

Then see which number is bigger, but (as mentioned previously) bear in mind corporation tax.

You may also want to run the number for years 2-5.

I ran my own media / tech related business for 15 years, and it was exciting, hard work and profitable most of the time. I found having a monthly profit / loss analysis vital to understand, how it was doing and when to sell it and move on. It's way too easy to think if you're busy you must be making money...

Good luck, but be brutally honest in your calculations.

NC for this. I run my own business that makes about £10k a month before tax. It's a service based business so no overheards to speak of as people are buying my expertise and work, although obviously there are things like tax and business insurance and laptop etc.

I was able to set this up with little savings as I had a list of contacts who were waiting to work with me, and because of the limited overheads. Despite all that it's still a slog, as its just me I feel a lot of pressure and I an constantly worried that my clients will all pull the plug and I'll have nothing. Had it been a business that required money/stock/premises to set up I would have definitely been more cautious.

I started properly on my own last year after years of thinking about it. Honestly, the hardest bit wasn’t the actual client work but sorting the back end: accounts, invoicing, chasing payments, all the dull admin that eats your time.

At first I was just juggling spreadsheets, but once cashflow got messy I moved everything into Unit4 (an ERP/accounting system). It wasn’t about being fancy, more about staying sane, I can actually see who owes what without digging through emails.

It is doable, even with all the negativity in the press, but you need to be prepared for long hours and to keep costs lean early on. If you can test it as a side hustle first, it takes a lot of pressure off.

Starting a business in the UK right now is definitely doable if you focus on your personal authority rather than general market noise.

I’ve been using PR Superstar to handle my profile and it helps cut through the negative economy talk by building actual credibility.

Focus on your specific niche and ignore the doom-posting.