New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

dktreesea

Andy2013 wrote: »

Being given money is not enough , working for someone else was the easiest thing ever, I didn't realise at the time but it truly was, but working for yourself with no one else to fall back on is very difficult and making it pay takes a lot of work.

It's really important, when you are working for yourself, to keep putting a little bit of money aside, even if it is only £10 a week in a non performing, easy to get your mitts on in an emergency, ISA.

One of the hardest things I've found building up the business, is keeping that bit of money back, not investing it in stock, even at the expense of growth now (rather than slower growth later on). And it's a fine line. You need to invest in stock for future sales, but at the same time make provision in case those sales don't pan out, and you have to dip into the emergency fund to cover bills.

TrueBlue1965 wrote: »

Self-motivation must be one of the main traits needed to make a new business work and keep working months then years down the line.

For sure. Though people have to be pretty motivated in the working for someone else world as well. They still have to get up at the same usually inconvenient time in the mornings or sleep at strange times if they are on shift work, put up with all the cr*p that goes on at work, deal with boredom day in day out if their job isn't the best.

One of the good things about being self employed, despite the uncertainty and all the financial management you end up doing to manage it, is the excitement of the chase, not knowing how good tomorrow will be sales wise.

Andy2013

One of the good things about being self employed, despite the uncertainty and all the financial management you end up doing to manage it, is the excitement of the chase, not knowing how good tomorrow will be sales wise.

Exciting, frightening, daunting, scary.

That sums up my experience of self employment, don't get me wrong I love my business and everything that's goes into it but paying the bills is hard especially when your not guaranteed an income.

It's really important, when you are working for yourself, to keep putting a little bit of money aside, even if it is only £10 a week in a non performing, easy to get your mitts on in an emergency, ISA.

Totally agree its something a lot probably don't think of but a few pounds aside is necessary for when the unexpected does happen, which it will. .

At the moment its not easy, a baby on the way and a wedding in August 2015

I really do stretch myself

dktreesea

Andy2013 wrote: »

Exciting, frightening, daunting, scary.

That sums up my experience of self employment, don't get me wrong I love my business and everything that's goes into it but paying the bills is hard especially when your not guaranteed an income.

Totally agree its something a lot probably don't think of but a few pounds aside is necessary for when the unexpected does happen, which it will. .

At the moment its not easy, a baby on the way and a wedding in August 2015

I really do stretch myself

A baby and a marriage! Wow, someone, and something to look forward to. That's great!

That's another side to being self employed. These kinds of businesses can consume you. Yes, working a bit harder and earning a bit more can take the financial pressure off. But at the same time, it's really important, imho, to find time to live your own life, keep in touch with friends and make sure you have plenty of non working time.

I often have days where the only people I talk to throughout the day are customers and family. Our mechanic was telling my OH the other day that he hasn't seen any friends outside work for weeks. He said he's so tired he dozed off in the middle of tea.

Yes, it's great being one's own boss. I couldn't stand to go back to having a boss now. But sometimes I wish I could afford to put the business on holiday settings for a month and go away somewhere to see friends in far off places.

Andy2013

Holiday ???????????????????? whats that !!!!

This year we probably wont get a week away maybe a few days here and there but I am happy with that.

For me a week of means 3 weeks of issues because the week prior I need everything to run smooth and get stock away before I leave, the week I am away I get nothing done and the week I get back is affected by the lack of the previous weeks work.

Hopefully like last year I can have a quiet week after Christmas .................... oh hang on we will have a 6 week old baby , maybe not then :rotfl:

tomterm8

Talking from the perspective of someone who has had businesses FAIL in the past I'd say motivation isn't enough. It doesn't come close to enough, actually.

You need to have the drive, sure. You need to work smart. What killed my business, though, was not taking care of myself. I'd spent so long working so many more than 50-hour weeks that my body just became worn out and I almost died.

Er... eat well, take breaks, look after yourself.

That's one thing I learned...

mattcanary

I've been invited to an introductory meeting about the New Enterprise Allowance by the Jobcentre when I signed on today.
Apparently the scheme has been pretty successful here in Norwich.... (it's run by Ixion).


I won't be reinventing the wheel. Will be looking to buy and sell probably second-hand goods. In particular, I would be looking to concentrate on sports memorabilia, books, board games, jigsaw puzzles, that kind of thing. Would be buying in auctions or car-boot sales and selling on Amazon/Ebay.
Collectables such as Royal Doulton and Clarice Cliff interest me too - but I am certainly not an expert in this area. I am reading up about the subject though and often watch Bargain Hunt, the Antiques Roadshow and other antiques programmes.

I know that lots of items go for 1p on Amazon second-hand. However, if you buy well, they can go for good money - say £20+ on Amazon for one book after spending £3 or £4 on a job lot of 20 odd items in a an auction. I am a keen football, horse-racing and motor-racing fan so feel my knowledge isn't bad in these areas. My specialist subject in Mastermind would be British football between 1987-1992!




It has got to be better than being on JSA, and I really like the idea of running my own business, where I am in control (I can be opinionated - but then regular readers of this forum would know that!). I don't have my own transport and have no savings to buy a vehicle, so I would be relying on being able to use my dad's car to transport items that I buy, to my home. He lives 30 miles from me but the train line between Norwich and Thetford is good so that is doable.




Eventually, I like the idea of selling my good off-line (say at a market or even in my own shop) as it seems more personal to me. However, I know that that can be a struggle nowadays and the running costs would be too high initially. I will probably find that I become engrossed in selling online anyway, and there is certainly more flexibility about taking time off work when you want to if you operate online.

Andy2013

mattcanary you seem to have a good basis for a business in my opinion, you know which area your going into and you have knowledge of a particular aspect which is really important.

My business is eBay based and I do sell on amazon but eBay tends to work best for me.

My main advice would be about fees , these can ruin a good business and they do add up quite quickly so make sure your aware of costs and the implications of these fees because they can reduce your profits easily.

My fees are on average £800 a month but my sales are good and the fees relate to these so for the outsider it looks expensive but its all relative.

Buy cheap, sell high its the only way to make it pay.

Buy a book for £2 and sell it for £5 , minus the eBay and PayPal fees and your looking at little more than £1 profit, its pointless , you would need to sell 1000 a month just to make minimum wage.

Buy quality , list honestly because it will only come back, and give a customer service experience like no other, this will be remembered as much as your product.

Good luck , work hard, and never be ashamed to have a dream, keep us updated.

tomterm8

A little while ago someone mentioned about going onto the work programme if you leave the nea.

At the time I thought there was something odd going on there... it didn't match my reading of the law but I didn't want to say anything as I'm not a lawyer and I wasn't sure at the time.

So I put in a freedom of information request.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/new_enterprise_allowance_linking#incoming-539439

New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) is not a Training Allowance and does not
meet the ‘linked period’ criteria of regulation 48(2)(d) of the Jobseeker’s
Allowance Regulations 1996.

If a person reclaims Jobseeker’s Allowance, and the gap between claims is
more than 12 weeks, then they have two separate non-linked jobseeking
periods under regulation 48(1) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations
1996.

This obviously doesn't apply to UC, which is different.

But it's pretty clear from the response that if you are on NEA for 13 weeks and then reclaim JSA you're a new claimant as far as JSA is concerned. You would have to serve a new waiting period, for example.

minimiller

I am going on this scheme, just waiting to see if my biz plan is approved.

It has taken about 5-6 weeks to perfect it and my PC broke!!

Anyway - do you need to start trading imediately because i need to creat my website (write it and have it developed and it is not ready yet.

Kevin_Anderson

Hi,

I’m a journalist working on a TV documentary about the changing world of work in the UK. I’m hoping to speak to people who have become self-employed in recent years to ask them about what their experiences have been. I’m particularly interested in talking to people who launched their business via the New Enterprise Allowance scheme to talk about the support they received.

I’m also interested in talking to people involved in agency work and other irregular work to find out about your pay and conditions.

I'd hope initially to have a confidential conservation with you over the phone, with a view to finding someone that we can film with as part of the programme. There is no obligation for you to take part in the programme once you’ve spoken with us, but it would be an opportunity to aid our research and for us to tell you a bit more about the film.

If you’d like to talk to me, in confidence, you can contact me on kevin@firecrestfilms.com and on 07875 372 423.

Thanks,

Kevin