New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

bigboybrother

WantToBeSE wrote: »

I have about £100 saved up, and thats it, and i am worried about any gap that there may be.

Is that the total sum of working capital that you have going into the business?

bigboybrother

Lady_strange wrote: »

Sorry for coming back to this late, having asked the question yesterday. I was told that I am not entitled to working tax credits, as for the first 8 weeks I was constructing the rooms in which my business runs, and I wasn't bringing in nmw. I have business premises, and I get rent from a band who use my space. I have opened up a recording studio, for those of you interested in what people are setting up.

At the moment the wtc would be usefull whilst I build up my client base, and it would mean I could plough more of my earnings back into the business, rather than putting it on rent and bills. My aim is to be off all benefits with in 12 months, and taking on staff after that point. Along with expanding my business.

I am currently appealing the wtc decision, but I was interested to hear other peoples experiences with wtc. I also have some pretty big contracts on the horizon, which will bring more business my way. But the way I see it, I paid into the system for years, as have my parents. I applied for 300+ jobs in the 13 weeks I was on JSA, and I didn't get a single response, so I decided to make my own business, and create a job for myself, (and hopefully others) My plan is to retire when I am 50... so I have 22 years from the end of May, lol. That will be 5 years earlier than my dad retired, got to have something to aim for.

Wow, that is a heavy capital investment! The last time I looked at that level of quality gear the figures started with 4 zeros at the end!

Good luck to you, it's a shame that you aren't anywhere near me. Trying to find a quality rehearsing studio with recording facilities for a reasonable hourly rate has been nigh on impossible.
The best that I could find is £20 an hour for rehearsing and recording is negotiable.

WantToBeSE

Hey Pinky, i just wanted to wish you luck for your meeting tomorrow

Lady_strange

bigboybrother wrote: »

Wow, that is a heavy capital investment! The last time I looked at that level of quality gear the figures started with 4 zeros at the end!

Good luck to you, it's a shame that you aren't anywhere near me. Trying to find a quality rehearsing studio with recording facilities for a reasonable hourly rate has been nigh on impossible.
The best that I could find is £20 an hour for rehearsing and recording is negotiable.

Our recordings start from £20 an hour, including mixing and mastering. We figured that so many studios around here were failing due to charging so much money, so where I rent is fairly cheap. I have an income coming in on a monthly basis from a band who use the space to rehearse, and record. I have kept my over heads low, so I can afford to operate at a reasonable rate, and still make a profit. Everybody who has come into the studio so far has been blown away by the facilities. And the gear is the reason I need the working tax credits now, as I have spent so much getting the studio up to the minimum standard I would want to record in, that I just need a little support now. My aim is to by the start of the next tax year, to be in a position where I am not entitled to any sort of benefits, and I am paying back into the system that has helped me. All of my start up loans will be repaid with in a year, and my pension pot will be growing

pinkypoopydoo

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hey Pinky, i just wanted to wish you luck for your meeting tomorrow

Thankyou I'll report back tomorrow, and let you know what was said.

Unfortunately I've been let down, child care wise, so I'm going to have to take my youngest with me. I'm hoping this doesn't negatively impact on things

bigboybrother

Lady_strange wrote: »

Our recordings start from £20 an hour, including mixing and mastering. We figured that so many studios around here were failing due to charging so much money, so where I rent is fairly cheap. I have an income coming in on a monthly basis from a band who use the space to rehearse, and record. I have kept my over heads low, so I can afford to operate at a reasonable rate, and still make a profit. Everybody who has come into the studio so far has been blown away by the facilities. And the gear is the reason I need the working tax credits now, as I have spent so much getting the studio up to the minimum standard I would want to record in, that I just need a little support now. My aim is to by the start of the next tax year, to be in a position where I am not entitled to any sort of benefits, and I am paying back into the system that has helped me. All of my start up loans will be repaid with in a year, and my pension pot will be growing

Hey that is cheap!

As I have said damn good luck to you, I personally know what the capital cost is and it aint cheap.

Do you have booths for recording or just in an acoustic sealed room?

Pity there aren't more like you around that have your idea. Hence why the likes of the village hall etc get used so much - sound is awful but it's a place to get together. I really love working in a fully funtional acoustically tempered room - the output is dead and that's when the phones come into their own.

I'm all excited for you!

pinkypoopydoo

I had my meeting with my mentor this morning, and I have to say, things went very well. It would appear that, if you have even a half decent idea, you will be given the chance to work on your business plan (she had all the paperwork ready for me to sign when I went in), but obviously this doesn't guarantee that you would get your business plan accepted, and be signed over to NEA. She went through my business plan with me, went through the standard stuff they wanted on a business plan, suggested a couple of marketing courses that were coming up in the area, and arranged to send out more details on marketing, and general set-ups, and has sent me off to work on my business plan some more. She was really friendly, really encouraging and seemed happy to give a balanced view - she was encouraging about most things, but was happy to share doubts about a couple of points in my business plan, and gave suggestions on how to either reword bits, or how to go about looking for things to replace things. I was asked my reasons for wanting to be self employed, asked what I intended to get out of it (I said I wanted a comfortable living, to be able to take the children for a day out, and not have to starve myself for a couple of days to pay for it, to not stress about putting £10 of diesel in the car. She laughed and said that that was a far better answer than those who say they want to change the world, or become a millionaire!)

So, I've been sent away to polish my business plan (she said it normally took 6-8 weeks, occasionally they could extend that for up to an extra 4 weeks, if circumstances meant it was necessary), and I've to mail it to her as soon as I'm happy with it - she reckoned it would take maybe 3-4 weeks for me to do the necessary marketing research, and to get the marketing course done - and then we shall see.

andyscott

pinkypoopydoo wrote: »

I had my meeting with my mentor this morning, and I have to say, things went very well. It would appear that, if you have even a half decent idea, you will be given the chance to work on your business plan (she had all the paperwork ready for me to sign when I went in), but obviously this doesn't guarantee that you would get your business plan accepted, and be signed over to NEA. She went through my business plan with me, went through the standard stuff they wanted on a business plan, suggested a couple of marketing courses that were coming up in the area, and arranged to send out more details on marketing, and general set-ups, and has sent me off to work on my business plan some more. She was really friendly, really encouraging and seemed happy to give a balanced view - she was encouraging about most things, but was happy to share doubts about a couple of points in my business plan, and gave suggestions on how to either reword bits, or how to go about looking for things to replace things. I was asked my reasons for wanting to be self employed, asked what I intended to get out of it (I said I wanted a comfortable living, to be able to take the children for a day out, and not have to starve myself for a couple of days to pay for it, to not stress about putting £10 of diesel in the car. She laughed and said that that was a far better answer than those who say they want to change the world, or become a millionaire!)

So, I've been sent away to polish my business plan (she said it normally took 6-8 weeks, occasionally they could extend that for up to an extra 4 weeks, if circumstances meant it was necessary), and I've to mail it to her as soon as I'm happy with it - she reckoned it would take maybe 3-4 weeks for me to do the necessary marketing research, and to get the marketing course done - and then we shall see.

Thats good at least you feel it was positive. What did she advice you to do for your market research?

Lady_strange

bigboybrother wrote: »

Hey that is cheap!

As I have said damn good luck to you, I personally know what the capital cost is and it aint cheap.

Do you have booths for recording or just in an acoustic sealed room?

Pity there aren't more like you around that have your idea. Hence why the likes of the village hall etc get used so much - sound is awful but it's a place to get together. I really love working in a fully funtional acoustically tempered room - the output is dead and that's when the phones come into their own.

I'm all excited for you!

Thanks

We have a fully treated vocal booth, which we also use for recording guitars and bass in. And the live room is treated to a decent standard. I am amazed that there aren't more places like us around. I class my studio as a demo studio, but hope that people will always be blown away by the standard of our recordings.

As you said in a previous post, the NEA is swapping one benefit for another, but benefits are a bit of a trap, that it is hard to get out of, and this gives people the tools they need to get themselves out of that trap.

stevenmiller_2

Hi my name is Steven and im a businessman, I offer my time been an NEA advisor through Business Gateway. I have been scouring the net looking to see how people in other parts of the country are finding NEA both positive and negative.

If anyone needs any information on it then do ask as one thing I have learned in the past couple of days is that there is very little info out there regarding the NEA.