New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

Andy2013

Is anyone now at the point where the NEA has stopped? What's it like having to cope with the sudden drop off in income?

I started a train of posts about 3 weeks ago saying that was a business viable or not and how long after NEA stopped should we wait until its time to call it a day, since then the whole benefits thing has taken over.

My NEA stopped August last year and it made NOOOOOOOO difference at all, the £33 was barely beer money and my business is profitable and paying my living costs comfortably.


The simple answer is , if your reliant on £33 from NEA then your business is not viable at that time, it needs more time but more importantly it probably needs re-modelling because after 6 months you should be able to make a nice little profit regardless of business type , forget the excuses of low cash flow etc. , if the business works then you should make money.

Give me £5 and ill turn it into £20 I don't need big loans and high cash assets to make this happen.

When NEA stops after 6 months your business should be making a profit , and if not you have a fundamental issue that no amount of time can possibly help.

You can wait 5 years but if the business model is flawed then it will only continue to go badly.

dktreesea

tomterm8 wrote: »

For clarification, these regulations only apply where the secretary of state by statutory instrument has put them into force, and only for specific classes of people, and the pathfinder implementation explicitly excludes self employed people.

Further to that, the most recent audit of the software implementation suggested that the current state of the software implementation is awful; the software doesn't work even for the simple cases tackled for the pathfinder trial.

Yes, I realise that the UC isn't available to the self employed yet, even in areas where it is in the throes of being implemented. Maybe after the election it will be put to sleep. I thought this was telling:

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2789-dwp-believes-universal-credit-is-dead-tribunal-president-reveals

If the DWP are no longer forecasting any appeals for UC between now and 2019, believing the figure will be too low to bother with, maybe the implementation is now likely to be so far out, if at all, that anyone who is currently self employed has at least 5 years to build up their businesses

tomterm8 wrote: »

Their plan is to make it so difficult to claim JSA that people don't.

Just IMHO.

A lot of people who are unemployed don't bother to claim JSA anyway. They just don't live in a world, or move in social circles, that the benefits system is part of. They depend on their savings to keep them going for stints between jobs.

It still seems easy enough to claim. It's just staying on it past 3 months once you've claimed it that seems to be becoming a problem. There seems to be a presumption that if you haven't found a job within 3 months you are coasting along and need intensive assistance.

dktreesea

Andy2013 wrote: »

I started a train of posts about 3 weeks ago saying that was a business viable or not and how long after NEA stopped should we wait until its time to call it a day, since then the whole benefits thing has taken over.

My NEA stopped August last year and it made NOOOOOOOO difference at all, the £33 was barely beer money and my business is profitable and paying my living costs comfortably.


The simple answer is , if your reliant on £33 from NEA then your business is not viable at that time, it needs more time but more importantly it probably needs re-modelling because after 6 months you should be able to make a nice little profit regardless of business type , forget the excuses of low cash flow etc. , if the business works then you should make money.

Give me £5 and ill turn it into £20 I don't need big loans and high cash assets to make this happen.

When NEA stops after 6 months your business should be making a profit , and if not you have a fundamental issue that no amount of time can possibly help.

You can wait 5 years but if the business model is flawed then it will only continue to go badly.

I believe (absolutely no evidence to back this up) that most businesses make a profit from the first customer. And maybe most self employed people can take £5 and turn it into £20. I know I can. But £15 profit wouldn't even pay the rent on my premises for the day, let alone the rent for the house. So at that point I would still be working for the landlord. And the commercial one at that.

If you already have a home, are faced with trying to live on £71 a week, and can run your business from home with minimal overheads, then going on NEA, imho, would be a no brainer. NEA is £33 or therabouts, WTC the same, so all you are trying to outperform for the first 6 months is the £5 a week shortfall between that income and your current "don't compete in the workforce/stay out of the workforce" bribe.

Even turning £5 into £20 - it takes time. If that's all you need to do for the week to be ahead on your present income position AND you can do it within a week, then I would say go for it.

Are you of the view that if there are any benefits included in the income equation, then the business isn't self sufficient? Keep in mind people going into a business via the NEA are already likely to be on benefits. Don't you have to have been unemployed for a certain amount of time to qualify for NEA?

Even in a family business where both partners are working full time, you need a hell of a lot of profit before you're beyond the entitlement to benefits wall. I checked that for our neck of the woods and was surprised to find, even with a profit of £22k a year, a family could still be entitled to benefits of £150 a week.

I would caution people about turning down that kind of business subsidy, especially if your business has overheads.

Andy2013

And maybe most self employed people can take £5 and turn it into £20. I know I can. But £15 profit wouldn't even pay the rent on my premises for the day, let alone the rent for the house. So at that point I would still be working for the landlord. And the commercial one at that.

Then do it 10 times a day and earn £150 profit ...................... Im talking hypothetically !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I not going to keep arguing with people on this benefits thing I hate the system, others love it with a passion .

Stevenb

LMAO :rotfl:

Give up Andy its not worth trying to explain to some people :rotfl:

Then do it 10 times a day and earn £150 profit ...................... Im talking hypothetically !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well I cant do that my benefits will stop !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! such a joke

TrueBlue1965

Im not sure anybody is suggesting not making more profit for fear of having any benefits reduced. As i,ve said several times. The more you earn the better off you will be and thats after benefits are reduced.

UC and the small businesses issue is dircted mainly at those in none jobs/businesses. The self-empoyed/none contract workers suchas reps, agents, Avon ladies and those delivering papers, ect. Basically, those who are paid commission only (nice way of getting around the NMW). If you dont sell then you dont get paid but you are toppd up by the benefit system. Any small pay puts these people a head of those on JCA. In many cases its the only work/business available because of the casual hours worked and issues like family commitments which make it almost impossible to find a regular 9-5 job or have the time to run a proper business, ect.

Andy2013, your moving stock from one place to another on-line and making god profit. Your clearly very good at what you do and your making good profits. However, most people dont have your particular skills or we would all be doing what your doing. So, its not as easy as your suggesting to make any business work.

I manufacture a certain type of garden product. Im new to e-bay. Im not a power seller. Do you fancy selling my products for me? It would allow me to do what I do best, which is manufacture! My businesses has massive potential if I get it right. I need investment to break in to a very competitive market which is dominated by middemen. I also need that bit of luck that everybody needs if im going to move past stage one of just serviving.

My final NEA payment went in to my bank yesterday. I will be £33 down next week. Will I miss it, yes. Will I servive, yes! Next step for me is a bigger Start-Up Loan which im going to invest in marketing my products to the garden industry. First conversations this week are positive. So, im back to writing business plans to get the higher loan agreed, lol.

dktreesea

Andy2013 wrote: »

Then do it 10 times a day and earn £150 profit ...................... Im talking hypothetically !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I not going to keep arguing with people on this benefits thing I hate the system, others love it with a passion .

Yes, but sadly for "Mr Hypothetically" and other theorists like him, these people being lured off the JSA are real people, in real businesses. I would be surprised if they could rustle up what would seem to many of us in established businesses to be a more than reasonable £50 a day investment into future profits.

It sounds to me like you are one of the lucky ones who hit the ground running and have been running ever since. If you seriously think that was all down to you, with luck and good fortune playing no part in your success, then imho that's a bit arrogant.

For the vast majority of people setting up one man band style businesses, particularly those with little or no capital, it seems to me to be a real struggle to survive, let alone earn the FT NMW.

dktreesea

TrueBlue1965 wrote: »

Im not sure anybody is suggesting not making more profit for fear of having any benefits reduced. As i,ve said several times. The more you earn the better off you will be and thats after benefits are reduced.

UC and the small businesses issue is dircted mainly at those in none jobs/businesses. The self-empoyed/none contract workers suchas reps, agents, Avon ladies and those delivering papers, ect. Basically, those who are paid commission only (nice way of getting around the NMW). If you dont sell then you dont get paid but you are toppd up by the benefit system. Any small pay puts these people a head of those on JCA. In many cases its the only work/business available because of the casual hours worked and issues like family commitments which make it almost impossible to find a regular 9-5 job or have the time to run a proper business, ect.

Andy2013, your moving stock from one place to another on-line and making god profit. Your clearly very good at what you do and your making good profits. However, most people dont have your particular skills or we would all be doing what your doing. So, its not as easy as your suggesting to make any business work.

I manufacture a certain type of garden product. Im new to e-bay. Im not a power seller. Do you fancy selling my products for me? It would allow me to do what I do best, which is manufacture! My businesses has massive potential if I get it right. I need investment to break in to a very competitive market which is dominated by middemen. I also need that bit of luck that everybody needs if im going to move past stage one of just serviving.

My final NEA payment went in to my bank yesterday. I will be £33 down next week. Will I miss it, yes. Will I servive, yes! Next step for me is a bigger Start-Up Loan which im going to invest in marketing my products to the garden industry. First conversations this week are positive. So, im back to writing business plans to get the higher loan agreed, lol.

Have you thought of having a stall at a garden show? The recent Gardening Scotland show was massive. So busy. From what I saw the stalls were all doing a roaring trade. Not sure what jewellery and gardening have in common, but clearly something, because one of the ladies there with a stall told me she was doing better than at Christmas. The ones with garden related items were doing really well. I don't think the people shopping at the show were in a thrifty mood. Mind you, to own a garden anywhere around Edinburgh you would need to be quite well heeled. You don't need to have your own debit card/credit card terminal. You can hire one at the show. I assume other shows work on much the same basis as the one up here.

I'm sure a lot of the customers there bought partly because they were captivated by the beauty all around them. Quality and gardening seem to go together. I saw some stunning hand made things. There was one guy there selling furniture made from planks like are used in scaffolding. £400 or thereabouts a pop and he wasn't short of customers.

tomterm8

TrueBlue1965 wrote: »

I manufacture a certain type of garden product. Im new to e-bay. Im not a power seller. Do you fancy selling my products for me? It would allow me to do what I do best, which is manufacture! My businesses has massive potential if I get it right. I need investment to break in to a very competitive market which is dominated by middemen. I also need that bit of luck that everybody needs if im going to move past stage one of just serviving.
.

As a minor question have you investigated Amazon Marketplace?

One of the problems with this thread is that it keeps on getting my curiosity up... quite a lot... as to exactly what people are actually making.:D

Andy2013

It sounds to me like you are one of the lucky ones who hit the ground running and have been running ever since. If you seriously think that was all down to you, with luck and good fortune playing no part in your success, then imho that's a bit arrogant.

I work 60 hours a week and live and breath my business, I have no doubt there is some luck but please don't ever do me the injustice of claiming this is the main reason.

In January 2013 I had £300 saved up and when I pay my next tax bill in April it will be over £5000 ,ill let you figure out my profit.

Im not arrogant but I am very self confident and I know my strengths and running my business is one of them.

I took no loans and owe no money , a good business makes money and pays tax .

Andy2013, your moving stock from one place to another on-line and making god profit. Your clearly very good at what you do and your making good profits. However, most people dont have your particular skills or we would all be doing what your doing. So, its not as easy as your suggesting to make any business work.

This is 100% true and I respect this statement immensely , sometimes I do come across very abrupt so here today your getting an apology , every one of us is trying our best, some will make it , most probably wont ,but at least we are all trying.