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Original poster

Who wants to be an entrepreneur? Start here... (and those who are, help here please!?)

409 replies

WilfSell · 21/08/2012 17:15

OK, I was inspired by the 'earn 1k a month working from home' thread, which turned into an inspiring if terrifying 'don't sell yourself short' thread. And wondered if, those of us who might like to work for ourselves but don't currently, could get started here? I aim to keep my job, and perhaps try to move to part-time at some point. I have some business ideas, some good, some over-ambitious, mostly attempts to roll-out my current skills into a private consultancy, not necessarily linked to my existing job (university research/teaching).

I know it is an incredibly tricky time to think about this, and I'm sure it is not easy or comfortable to make a living... But some people manage it, so why shouldn't more of us?

OP posts:
Xenia · 27/08/2012 12:34

A break can do people good.
I have looked up the contacts I met last week at a work thing who came from all over the world. It is always interesting to see who is connected to whom. One was connected to a UK royal but I will say no more (not that that would be any good for work but was fascinating). One has connected to me from the near East. Don't limit yourselves to UK work. The pound has been fairly low and one exporter I know made £1m last year in exports (all kept by him, sadly a him not a her) because prices were so much more competitive because of the state of the pound then. May not be quite so good now.

One reason Germany (and the UK's best export - the golden egg everyone wants to murder so that their benefits will presumably be halved in value - our financial sector) has done so well is because it has skills or products which many of those abroad want.

Mintyy · 27/08/2012 12:35

Yep, come back from a lovely holiday in Italy full of all sorts of resolutions!

But I saw that Panorama about the 5:2 fasting thing before we went and was intrigued by it and thought I'd give it a try. Going to come back later and read through properly ... am a bit clueless as to how I'll ever stick to 500 calories per day Grin. Managed not to totally blimp out in Italy because it was too hot to eat (and I was a bit underwhelmed by the food tbh) and I spent hours in the pool as the only way to cool down. Still got at least 30lb to lose though Sad.

Mintyy · 27/08/2012 12:37

I know Biwi! Tell me to get up off my huge backside and into that kitchen where the laundry mountain waits Grin

BIWI · 27/08/2012 12:49

Come and join the Bootcamp threads, Mintyy - no need to calorie count there!

Mintyy · 27/08/2012 12:52

Oh I know you do sterling work over there my duck and you've all shifted tons of weight ... but I just can't do low carb. I cannot. Honestly.

Mintyy · 27/08/2012 12:52

Anyway, sorry for hijacking op. Really am going now! Back later.

DolomitesDonkey · 27/08/2012 14:19

BIWI Your site-host (the people you have your website with) should allow you to check your mail online. If yes, try opening up this program and making a "test folder". If you then have your PC/laptop/phone settings to be imap.yoursite.co.uk rather than pop3.yoursite.co.uk then the emails are synced across each and every reading entity you use. This means that if you download something on your laptop, it will also be visible on your phone - and, once you've deleted something, it deletes it from all devices. Anyway, your test folder should show up on your phone/laptop. It may take a bit of fiddling with the phone - e.g., like you, I had all accounts showing, but then I selected "folders" and it showed in, out, in-out, shake-it-all-about - I scrolled down and showed the individual sub-folders that I'd created on the web-server email host itself.

Is any of that making sense?

BIWI · 27/08/2012 15:08
Xenia · 27/08/2012 15:43

if you arwe asking how to check emails when you are not at your pc you can go on to mail2web.com but you need to know your user name, password and the server name your ISP (eg BT) uses/you use. You can get that by asking them.

Mostly those of us with a blackberry can just easily get all our emails to all accounts coming into the phone for when we aren't at the computer and that usually works pretty easily.

BIWI · 27/08/2012 15:49

No - that's not the issue, Xenia. And I have all e-mail coming to me on my iPhone. It's about creating sub-folders so that you can have your e-mails filed in the same way that you would on your PC.

StripyShoes · 27/08/2012 16:09

Just marking my place so I can catch up after tonights shift at work.

Original poster
WilfSell · 27/08/2012 16:42

OK 'preneurs, quick poll. Have asked on the 1k club Facebook page but would be grateful for your view. I've spent exactly one morning thinking about this and already have self-doubt and perfectionism kicking in.

When planning and working up ones business idea best to:

  1. Start small, local and with a fair few flaws in the model. Risk other bigger players doing it better and quicker, but benefit of local contacts and have something to scale up and out later?
  1. Plan big, fullscale thing with the flaws above ironed out ahead of time and potentially more effective business model. This needs more investment and more expertise but still do-able in my humble [naive] opinion.

Mind is fizzing but scale of possibilities is terrifying...

OP posts:
Xenia · 27/08/2012 16:47

It depends on the idea. A lot of people make a mistake of hiring a large office and taking on a lot of employees and being conned into spending £10k on a website. I think keeping over heads really really low is very wise as so much can be done cheaply on line.

On the two options I think it depends what it is and that's hard to discuss without giving the idea away. A lot of thigns only take off if people hear about them so something which gets a lot of publicity is going to do better. However most people have to start small - eg if you were going into buy to let properties you would probably start with one and build up from there rather than persuading a bank to lend you to allow you to buy 15 flats at once as you'd need a track record to get financing.

If your bigger thing is more doable and likely to fail then the bigger version sounds better however.

BIWI · 27/08/2012 17:28

It depends on what your specific goals and objectives are, Wilf.

Have you written a business plan? That's where I would start. It's a discipline that makes you really think through what you want to achieve (especially financially), and you should be writing goals for yourself for 1, 5 and 10 years if you can.

Thus your 1st year objective could be your number one, with number 2 being your 5th or 10th year objective.

Once you have defined those, then you write your detailed plan as to how you're going to achieve it.

Original poster
WilfSell · 27/08/2012 19:27

Yeah. Have just filled up [crazy person] about 15 pages of a new notebook today drafting out ideas. Will write up soon! I'm going to share on our new FB page soon but basically it's a searchable website with a potential publishing arm!

OP posts:
CajaDeLaMemoria · 27/08/2012 20:52

Can I join the FB group?

I'd love to scale things up and really get going...it's my time to shine :)

(Or at least I'm going to keep telling myself that!)

Original poster
WilfSell · 27/08/2012 20:54

Scan up the thread and you'll see the people you can PM with your details to join the FB group. Definitely dolomitesdonkey and mmelindor and a couple of others.

OP posts:
iloveeverton · 27/08/2012 22:03

Nanky thank you, you have inspired me! I'm a physio too working near liverpool. I work for someone else in a private practice but am required to do quite a few home visits- which I love.

However I would love to just work for myself doing these visits full time. It will not be a problem for my current boss as I live a good distance to work so no treading on toes!

I have tried to PM you but I cant seem to access peoples accounts today?

On a side note I am so inspired by the 1k thread. I run a separate business with a friend totally out of my skill area- its a hairdressers but I do all the admin bit and although times are tough we are afloat and employing others which I'm proud of.

I am also toying with the idea of an organic dog treat bakery- I can never find any decent treats for my pets that aren't full of rubbish, I have some great recipies and have lots of contacts.

Could someone PM me to join the facebook group? I'm inspired.

NiceBiscuits · 27/08/2012 22:49

Love the idea of organic dog treats.

GW297 · 27/08/2012 22:53

Nicebiscuits and saffra - thank you for the replies, both very helpful. WilfSell I think it's best to start small and local, but I suppose it depends on the nature of your business and probably your start up costs.

QueefLatina · 28/08/2012 12:30

Marking place as I'm in the process of setting up my own business and I'm inspired by the can do attitude on here

fusam · 28/08/2012 20:18

May I join you guys? I am an IT contractor in the early stages of setting up a tech company making specialist software. Whilst I have been a contractor for a few years am still struggling with shifting my mindset to running an actual company that produces something rather than just turning up solving a specific problem.

I am going to start an on-line course on Udacity on building a startup, see here. If anyone is actually struggling on the processes then it might be of interest. If you end up signing up for that course let me know and we can support each other.

There is an interesting movement of something call lean and agile startups within the Tech industry over the last couple of years. There have been a number of books on the subject but it's basically a system of trying out ideas on the market by building prototypes first and actively seeking feedback in order to tweak as part of the design process. It's not just for IT companies the concepts are interesting for any company. Lean startup 'movement' encourages startup companies to take advantage of their small size and ability to react to the market much faster than the big guys in order to compete. Sorry I am tired and not really summarizing it properly but if anyone is interested I can dig out some helpful links.

A recent quite witty and inspiring article for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit is the 7 habits of effective mediocre entrepeneurs

I will pm mme later to join your fb group. I am happy to help if you have IT questions, (but I have a toddler and a tiny baby and a job so please forgive me if I don't get back to you right away). I am especially looking for help from someone with a design eye to do a skills trade with.

fusam · 28/08/2012 20:25

Rant alert

Please encourage your DDs to become more technical. I am often the only woman in IT events and it's depressing. Most companies of the future will have to be highly tech orientated and there are so many opportunities for women to be paid well but also have a bit of flexibility. I work full time (or more) but around the kids i.e. school hours plus most nights and weekends

rant over.

IvanaNap · 28/08/2012 20:51

Fusam, tell me what I am especially looking for help from someone with a design eye to do a skills trade with. that bit means / a bit more about it? :)

MmeLindor · 28/08/2012 20:58

fusam
I have sent you several rambling and slightly rude emails. Ignore me and go to the last one. I have had two glasses of red wine.

Wilf
Xenia is spot on with that comment about renting big offices and paying £10k for a website. Nothing against going for the big golden ring, but I would say keep your start up costs as low as possible until you can see if it will work. I am still hoping to do something with my pre-teen mag, and that is how I have started it. I need to do a business plan for it though.