business start up help

tidydan24

hi, im 26 and live in bournemouth with my wife and baby son. i work as a support worker in an nhs mental health hospital. i really want to start up my own wedding photography business, with many ideas to expand in the future. we fell into bad credit when my wife was on maternity leave as her pay dropped very dramatically, so i dont think banks are going to help me as i would fail any credit checks. so i looked down the route of government grants and charity loans/grants such as princes trust, but due to the fact i work full time, have no drug problem, finished school and have no convictions, they said they could not help. talk about being punished for doing the right thing. i have now resorted to writting to magazines, news papers and production companies to ask if they have any decent unused cameras and photography equipment. does anyone know how i can get to where i so desperatly want to be, i just want to get out of the debt im in and build a better life for my family, and i know with a little financial help my business plan will get me there.
ps if anyone does have a decent digital SLR camera that they just dont want any more then i would be happy to give it a loving home

ianian99

do some overtime and buy what you need. After all you only need a camera!!

tidydan24

the trust i work for do not pay over time and even if they did it wouldnt be enough, if you have ever worked for the nhs then you would know our wage is poor my salary is 12,600. and unfortunatly because my wage is so crap i work upto 50 hrs a week for basic pay (as they allow us to do overtime but paid at basic rate)

ianian99

get a second job then

tidydan24

im sorry to sound rude but did you read my posts i work 50hr weeks and im a new dad. i dont have time to do anything else but work sleep eat and feed a baby

ianian99

tidydan24 wrote: »

im sorry to sound rude but did you read my posts i work 50hr weeks and im a new dad. i dont have time to do anything else but work sleep eat and feed a baby

then how can you start a wedding photography business?

tidydan24

im sorry if this is gonna sound rude but are you just being difficult or summin. obviously if im gonna start a business then im gonna leave my current job or drastically cut my hours. now once again im sorry for being rude but if you have nothing helpful for me then just leave it

poker_face

tidydan24 wrote: »

im sorry if this is gonna sound rude but are you just being difficult or summin. obviously if im gonna start a business then im gonna leave my current job or drastically cut my hours. now once again im sorry for being rude but if you have nothing helpful for me then just leave it

Your in a difficult position. With little time and money on your hands, I can only suggest taking things slow. Get your first camera second hand, and start building a portfolio in your spare time. Then after a you get some money in, buy a second camera and start charging more. I think it would be a mistake in your position to go straight into it full time as it would be very risky.

Conor_3

tidydan24 wrote: »

im sorry if this is gonna sound rude but are you just being difficult or summin. obviously if im gonna start a business then im gonna leave my current job or drastically cut my hours. now once again im sorry for being rude but if you have nothing helpful for me then just leave it

It's not obvious and it's a reasonable question to ask. You're already barely getting by on a fulltime wage and if you think that you're suddenly going to start making money from day one then you're sadly deluded so based on the fact you're on the bones of your !!!! on your salary, it's only reasonable to assume that you'd be running your business alongside your job until it got going enough to take over.

Horace

Business start up is difficult especially if you have a bad credit score. You state that you currently work all the hours god sends for the NHS and yet want to set up as a wedding photographer. My suggestion to you would be to attend college, learn some photography, see if you can get a camera off freecycle or buy a second hand one.

See if you can become an apprentice to a photographer before you set up on your own - wedding photography can be lucrative but only if you have loads of qualifications and can work strange hours (are you prepared to give up your weekends?). When you become self-employed you will be working for yourself and working for yourself is not a 9 to 5 job, you will find yourself working even longer hours than you do for the NHS. If I were you I would stay where you are until you have more money behind you and your credit rating has improved.

You would be crazy to give you job on the off-chance that you will suddenly get loads of business - I think you are wearing rose tinted spectacles because life isnt like that. I am recently self-employed via New Deal at the jobcentre - so I am getting even less money than your wage in the NHS and I am currently putting in 16hour days every single day of the week - I don't get weekends off, I work damned hard building up my supplier portfolio so that I have enough choice to offer clients when they eventually start booking my services. It sure isnt easy and I am studying for an HND at the same time.

You need to have a good long think and not be too hasty - go and get some qualifications, join the local photography club, get a second hand camera and only then if you are good enough do you pack in your day job and go self employed. You also need to remember that going self employed also has tax implications - you will pay tax and national insurance - so you will be paying class 2 for being self employed and class 4 for being employed by the NHS and from where I am sitting you are struggling as it is and can do without the extra expense.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but its true.

tidydan24

thanks for all your comments. i probably wasn't completely clear with my work commitments (comes from writting a post at 2am while on my 5th night shift lol) i work on whats called a nurse bank, its basically the same as a supply teacher or agency staff, though is an internal thing. i get as many shifts as i like though also work as little as i like so i would stay on the nurse bank until i am well and truely established in my business, so if i have no bookings for months then i will still have full time wage from nhs. i have also taken a couple of photography classes including 1 specifically for weddings, i am fully aware of the fact that i will be working mostly weekends but thats fine coz working in the nhs and that sort of job, weekends are just another day, so week days off are fine with me. cheers anyway and keep the posts coming. and please sum1 give me a camera lol