Join in if you are self-employed and work from home

Robert_Roberston

Hi all,

I'm self employed but recently lost a decent sized contract so am £600 or so adrift a month now and I'm in a quandry where I dont quite seem to be able to get myself out of, I rely largley on a company to give me most of my work and I effectively sub contract for them. I earn good money but my outgoings are high, I've got two kids and my wife doesn't work (one of our kids is on the ASD spectrum) and is just starting nursery so it's a challenge.

I wanted to position myself as a consultant within the retail / demand planning sector but haven't a clue where to start, I had some relative good early success with an email I sent to one of the major supermarkets that resulted in a meeting and presentation around what I proposed to improve their replenishment and store presentation / organisation but they decided not to proceed. They are opening other stores and someone else has my details.

I know this isn't indicative and expect a ton of declines and most not to even reply! My issue is that I dont really know where to start with this new venture, we can easily cope with the funds we still have coming in but the loss of a contract doesn't bode well.... I'm very reliant on one company and want to branch out, I have a lot of free time (bar a day a week) to start getting things done but don't really know where to start with regards to a marketing effort, I'm on with building a website, should I sent emails out to other companies?

Im just planning on focussing on food retail, I have some demand management and forecasting experience whereby I can advise on setting up stocks so that they dont run out but alternatively dont keep loads of stock (and money) tied up..

What should I do? Target local businesses? Yellow pages? Letter? Email?

Any help would be appreciated

miket1964

Hi Robert
I was in a similar position a year ago, I run my own design and print business. Three of us started businesses together where the other two ran the print side and I did the design and repro on a sub-contract basis. When the credit crunch happened, they pulled all work in house and left me high and dry, no warning etc. We did have a three year contract but that had just expired. My last financial year went from 16K to 2K of work from them, which have made a massive difference to me financially. I understood why the did it etc, but was upset that they didn't discuss it first.

Anyway with regards to your marketing, to generate new business leads I have tried several options.
1. Sending out a brochure with a postage paid reply card attached (Sent out several hundred - not one reply - all that was required was to tick a box and put back in post)
2. Sending out a brochure etc in nice pack - very little success
3. Sending out a brochure and follow up with a call - limited success.
4. Calling first then sending out brochure then follow up with a call - best success.

Its is said that with a mailer an average success rate is around 2% - I buy my business leads from Thompson Local (they are regarded as the best, but I have issues with them regarding the accuracy of their dated, but this is only for new business leads). But the print trade is very competitive and with the home computer use, lots of people do things themselves, some OK, but most bad. So give your business a professional image means you are more likely to be taken seriously by potential customers.

For me the quality of my work and recommendations have seen the best success rate. Potential customers like to know you, so its more of getting face to face apppointments.
Email or Email marketing, quite an initial outlay and you would have to send hundreds etc to get a worthwhile return rate.

If you have been cut adrift by the other business could you not target their clients with an offer of a cheaper rate, plus get in touch with any contacts you have.
My approach would be. Find potential customers, call and try and find out who would deal with your area, try and speak to them, send some literature, call back and see if they have received this and arrange an appointment to see them.

Good Luck

Horace

I havent been on this thread for a long time due to becoming busy at work.

Mike - I know nothing about the retail trade but know that everyone has been hard hit by the recession. Have you thought about networking? I know some people reckon that networking is for losers but it is a way of getting to speak to people that you wouldn't normally get to see. Try https://www.4networking.biz - there is an online forum and there are breakfast meetings..its a way of selling not to the room but through the room to the people that the folks at the breakfast meeting may know.

Networking is how I have found my clients - I am working on 3 joint ventures with a 4th coming on stream soon - all of which make money for me. I am now moving away from weddings and sticking with the corporate events because I can earn more money and this is where my client base is.

Have you thought about diversifying?

travelodger

I just want to say that the most reliable and constant way I have found of making money while "working from home" is to let rooms to lodgers. There have been very few problems and the rooms are never empty (soon as someone leaves an ad in the local paper draws another to move in the day the old lodger moves out).

I've never known anything make money as easily as this.

Anyone else do this?

moonflower_2

Hi sorry to jump in, I am new and wondering if many of you use facebook for your business?
If so does it work?

Also what is the best time of year to set up a new business, all advice welcome thanks

Moonflower

moonflower_2

Is anyone here anymore???

Amatheya81

Just found this thread, it looks brillian, deffinately need to get it going again.

I recently set up as a artist & illustrator. I'm not really pushing for sales at the moment more finding my feet and getting used to painting again after a 10 year break :eek:

Moonflower - in answere to your question I don't use facebook to advertise but I know lots of artists and craft related business people who do. I find that a blog works better for my perposes and I also have a website. What sort of business are you thinking of setting up?
As for when I would suggest that for most businesses the sooner you get started the better. Even if the business is a seasonal venture you can always set up and start advertising.

Hope this place picks up again :T

Horace

I am one of the original people that posted on this thread regularly but I stopped visiting MSE for quite a while because i was focussing on my business and life in general.

To answer Moonflower - I do have a page on Facebook but don't advertise on there to be honest with you. I use twitter a lot and have a wordpress blog which incorportes my website and update that fairly regularly which drives traffic to it. I have started to use LinkedIn heavily too and joining groups on there and am finding it is a great way to get more business and be introduced to people - I look at my contacts and look at their contacts and if I see someone that I would like to talk to then I ask for an introduction as this is so much easier than cold calling.

After a pretty disastrous second year wedding wise I have decided to move away from the wedding industry (it is one of the !!!!!iest industries I have worked in). I also discovered that brides want something for nothing and one offered to pay me £4 an hour but I am not prepared to work for that because organising a wedding is stressful and I value my time - I trained hard to obtain a professional diploma too so I am not prepared to give away my services for free.:mad:

I am rebranding to offer more services to corporate clients because that is where my clients seem to come from these days with joint ventures that I set up with people I met when networking. I want to look more corporate and less weddingy...it is not to say that I won't organise a wedding if asked but I don't want weddings to be my core business.

In the meantime life has been a struggle so I am still doing mystery shopping to keep my bank account afloat although I no longer have to fork out for bank charges now I get free business banking from the co-op thanks to my FSB membership. I have even considered getting a 'proper' job as my now ex boyfriend used to put it although to be honest I don't want to be an employee because I like to be able to do what I want when I want. Times have been tough emotionally to the point where I admit that I didnt go to London to see my boyfriend as often as I would have liked (there was nothing stopping him from visiting me though) but then the exuses about being away sailing every weekend started and as he sails with the civil service I was unable to go..I discovered on New Years' Day that he had been seeing someone else and I uncovered a whole load of lies about what he had been doing with his weekends which got me quite angry because he would never do anything..I couldn't shift him off the beach or off my computer on the odd occasion when he came to Birmingham. Now I am relieved he has gone - good riddance to bad rubbish I say, I am now feeling happier and more focussed than I have for a long time.

Sorry for waffling.

moonflower_2

Hi Horace
I have just joined LinkedIn any advice would be welcome groups to join etc.

At the moment I am a free member, what do you have?

I am setting up as a Curtain Maker.

Moonflower

Horace

Hi Moonflower - I have free basic membership of LinkedIn and did a search of groups by industry type. For instance I am in 4Networking, The Brummies Forum (this is Birmingham businesses), Event Planners & Event Management, Production & Shows and a few others besides. (I am on LinkedIn under my real name which isnt Horace:D)

Get yourself onto twitter too - I know someone on twitter who is based up in Yorkshire who has his own curtain business.

With twitter strike up conversations rather than broadcast what your business does..I seem to get followed by all kinds of people including a tractor firm in the US so I must say something that makes them smile.

You can join groups on facebook too and post links on them to promote your business..I did that when I first started out and put links to my website all over the place..anything for a bit of free promotion.