SB: Small Business Start Up Discussion

briggsbibsandbobs

Hi I really need some help before I get into trouble!! I suffer from post natal depression and I am still in treatment therefore off my part time job on sick. I started making baby bibs for therapy and now I was wanting to sell them. I am looking to start something up where all profit goes to post natal depression services in edinburgh and have no clue where to start. I am in no way looking to set up a business for myself and only want to sell online or local craft fairs my baby blankets or bibs with all proceeds going to post natal depression services. Any help would be much apreciated as I seem to be getting a lot of hassle regarding doing this legally and dont want to get into any trouble. I find it really difficult to concentrate on reading things at present due to my illness and I am so confused by all the official sites such as revenue and customs!! thanks!

cflick

Hi I am looking at renting space in a shop to sell my goods. Would i just register myself as self employed, and what sort of taxes do i have to pay. Someone mentioned business rates to me?
Any help would be great .

Savvy_Sue

cflick wrote: »

Hi I am looking at renting space in a shop to sell my goods.

So are you going to be there staffing the shop, at least part of the time? Or just putting your goods into an existing shop on a kind of 'sale or return' basis? Or renting a whole actual shop?

cflick wrote: »

Would i just register myself as self employed, and what sort of taxes do i have to pay.

You definitely register as self employed / for self assessment. And you pay income tax on your profits, NI possibly (not essential if your profits are less than c. £6000 per year). But is this your only income, or are you also employed?

Also, you might need to have product liability insurance: what kind of thing are you selling?

cflick wrote: »

Someone mentioned business rates to me?

If you were renting business premises of any kind, you would need to pay business rates. But if it is just shelf space in an existing shop, then the owner / tenant would be responsible (although they might pass on part of the cost). And if it is goods on sale or return, then you wouldn't have to worry at all.

There are however things like insurance already mentioned.

cflick wrote: »

Any help would be great .

Difficult to give more without knowing more ...

tr1pod

Hi guys
I am 26 and have been receiving JSA for 6 months since a split with my daughters dad.I am a qualified dog groomer and with support from the princes trust I have decided to start up and run a grooming,walking and pet products selling service from home.
Tomorrow I will be receiving £250 "will it work grant" from the princes trust which I am spending on business flyers and some essential equipment.
I need as much advice and help as possible as at the moment my rent is 90% payed by housing benefit.I haven't registered the business with HMRC yet. I'm worried about coming off of JSA and then applying for working tax credits as i'd have to pay the rent and running cost of the business while its all being processed.
I will not be working the same amount of hours or at least will not be earning the same amount of money each week.I know this will affect the amount of benefits and tax credits I'm entitled too.
I literally have no idea if I should trail the business for a month before going through all the systems to see if I do have a solid customer base or just go for it full force.
Any help or advice would be gratefully received ..Thanks

paddyrg

I literally have no idea if I should trail the business for a month before going through all the systems to see if I do have a solid customer base or just go for it full force.

The eternal dilemma! This is what every business person gambles with every time they expand or grow the company... Take a risk today for gains tomorrow or not. Getting it wrong can be a real hit, but getting it right can pay well.

Now there are 2 ways too look at this-
1) if you have a safety net, you'll use it - if you tiptoe into trading, at some point you have to let go of the rope and dive into it... However the net means you always watch your back against losing some of your state assistance, so aren't hungry to make things work and are more likely to give up.
2) nobody need starve in this country - if you take a risk and it doesn't pay off, reapply for support and know you gave it a go, but throw yourself into it.

Nobody can decide for you as that's (literally) your business, however I would be inclined with such a small amount of cash to really work out how to reduce/eliminate startup costs. I wouldn't be in a rush to print flashy colour flyers if I could photocopy 50 at a time for a few quid and spent the money on going between vets telling them what you offer that is different, etc. Personal contact is going to be critical so go and press the flesh at pet shops, maybe if there's a fete/fair you could do a free talk about dog home grooming (saying that every quarter/whatever its a good idea too get a good cut from a professional as well)? Or other cheap gimmick/novelty get some photos done of some half-groomed dogs, leave one side (eg right) untouched, groom the other side beautifully, it'll make an attention getter and demonstrate the value and your skill as well add make a nice youtube promo.

Towser

What small business would you do if good at sewing clothes? Do you have a good idea with a twist? How would you expand the business in length and breadth of services or products? It might sound obvious but it's not to me. Or maybe I just lack confidence to spend my initial start up costs. Am I just doomed to doing repairs and making single items for minimum payment because people don't like spending money on clothes. How do you hit the ground running?

paddyrg

Towser wrote: »

What small business would you do if good at sewing clothes? Do you have a good idea with a twist? How would you expand the business in length and breadth of services or products? It might sound obvious but it's not to me. Or maybe I just lack confidence to spend my initial start up costs. Am I just doomed to doing repairs and making single items for minimum payment because people don't like spending money on clothes. How do you hit the ground running?

Maybe you avoid bottom-feeders and hit the market that will value clothes? That is middle-class career-break mums who'll want something special for their kids like their mothers used to make for them, and gents who will shop at Lewin as opposed to BHS.

Can you offer a discreet letting-out service for gents shirts? I know one thing as weight gets harder to shed that might appeal is to get the wearer a little extra life out a decent shirt. You can probably eyeball who would or wouldn't be a potential client easily, look for successful (or aspirational) sales reps, executives, executives PA's (who often have to sort out suits/clothes before big sales meetings/conferences), etc rather than the backroom IT guys.

If you can offer a competitive price for bespoke shirts, I'll bet you'll get business. Offer a choice of fabrics, with/without pockets, sizes, soft/stiff collars, sleeve lengths, etc - it is a rite of passage to be measured for a shirt ;-)

lesleycoups

I've been told that you can get a grant of £8,000 to help with starting a new business, i want to start my own business and this grant would be very useful to me, but i can't find anything about it on the internet, so it seems as though this is untrue, are there any grants available? i'm 37 so too old for one from the princes trust, please help if you can thanks

Dona_S

Hey,

I found an easy to use FREE website builder for my start up. Its name is Puzl {puzl (.) com} and you can add as much content as you desire. There are no trial periods or hidden costs. It is a simple and user-friendly builder with an emphasis on search engine optimization (the platform is optimized and help your site rapidly appear on the main search engines, such as Google). Give it a try, there is a full customer support to guide you through the creation of your site. Enjoy!

hotproperty44

If you are starting or run a small business a great place to get noticed online is ipatter.com It's completely free - have a look at their 'about' section for all the details. Lots of businesses, schools, charities and government bodies use it already.

Everything published on ipatter can be found by search engines and it works really well. Try searching 'remortage broker in norwich' to see how well this can work.

I hope this helps everyone. I run an account for my local 'friends of the school'.