starting a business

hannah29_2

hi we are 2 mums looking to start our own local magazine. we have done alot of research and there is a niche for our magazine, it will also be a free magazine. we have spoken to a design and print company and worked out if we do the legwork, which we intend to do, it is financially viable.
what we need to know is where to start with this. neither of us work at the moment or claim any benefits. apart from the design and printing everything else will be run from home rather than rented premises. where would be our first port of call in help with setting up. set up costs are not an issue although a little help would not be refused!!!
we need to know who would we tell first with regards to tax, ni etc
are we best going to the job centre and talking to them? are they any help?
thanks hannah

paulwf

The job centre won't be able to help with self employment - your first point of call should be reading through the Business Link (or regional equivalent) website and then call them if you require specific advice on setting up and book on their free courses which will give you lots of info.

Your actual dealings with tax and NI are with HMRC, you can register with them to become self employed and national insurance payments (if applicable) are usually arranged by direct debit.

I think there have been discussions on this forum regarding community websites and community magazines in the last couple of weeks. ukbusinessforums.co.uk also has similar discussions, partly due to the controversy surrounding mymag and thebestof franchises. Therefore it will be worth spending an afternoon reading through the forums and doing some keyword searches.

Horace

The jobcentre wont help you as they will only help you find a job they don't give business advice. Firstly get some sound and free business advice from businesslink (its someone else if you live in Scotland but I am not sure who). When you have talked it through with business link and you have done some courses on marketing sales, legalities etc and you have sorted out your business plan. You need to decide if you are setting up as sole traders, a partnership or a limited company - again businesslink can advise.

You then contact the HMRC and register as self employed - you would then be liable for class 2 NI although you can ask for an exemption certificate if you are on low earnings.

When you talk to Businesslink ask them about grants - although be warned grants are very thin on the ground so you may have to start your business with zero financial help.

When you have set up and decided whether or not you are a partnership or limited company etc you will need a business bank account - you can get a free one for about 18 months but if you decide to join the Federation of Small Businesses then you can get free banking for life with the co-operative bank.

hannah29_2

many thanks to you both, we are on the case to business link!
hannah

motorguy

hannah29 wrote: »

many thanks to you both, we are on the case to business link!
hannah

I take it if your magazine is free you hope to cover your costs with advertising? Have you tested the water for that?

Have you thought much about distribution costs? And who it will be distributed to?

hannah29_2

hi
yes we have tested the water with advertising costs and we can do it, we are not going to be rich from it but it will give us a small income each that we are both happy with as stay at home mums. it will be distributed through schools by ourselves

paulwf

Have you approached the schools and asked if distribution is possible and what their fee will be? That sort of distribution model would concern me, it only takes a couple of schools to pull out and it would have a huge impact on your business. Can you get other distribution channels as well?

Slinky

There are several magazines distributed through schools already, Raring2Go is one started by the same company as My Mag and TheBestOf. We have an R2G round here I saw for the first time in ages, a couple of months ago. It's been going for 3 years, was on 32 pages and had very few adverts. Didn't look like it could possibly be making much money, if anything at all.