New Enterprise Allowance scheme - My story

pinkypoopydoo

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hi all, me again

Does anyone know how the loan works? When i spoke to the lady on Friday, she said that everyone she has put through the loan process has been able to get it, regardless of their credit history.
The only 2 people that were turned down were people who lied about having debt. She has had people who have been bankrupt, on IVAs etc, and they have all been accepted. So i am considering applying for the loan.
Do you have to buy everything first, and then they reimburse you? Or do you just give them a list of what you need and they give you the amount?

I think you have to list your start-up costs (with proof that they will cost that much) on your business plan, and highlight that you wish to apply for a loan to cover those costs.

Certainly, I had to give a breakdown of all my costs for the first two years, even though I decided against the loan.

Andy2013

Hey glad to see more of you joining in but sadly most seem to be having issues like myself.

So as far as the loan is concerned be very careful when applying because I was declined as a past CCJ now cleared showed up and this bounced the application which they agreed was a fault of theres but by the time I had an answer I had arranged other start up finance so avoided getting in to debt, which now I am very pleased about.

£1000 is indeed a small figure but remember its a LOAN not a gift so you pay it back and this could take a long time if it was a larger amount of money and from figures given to me probably 50% of us on here will not be self employed in 1 years time ,and you would not want to be lumbered with X amount of useless debt for years to come!!

A lot of us seem to be having trouble with NEA wetheir its invisible mentors, useless staff or no payments, so it does ask the question why are we all so reliant on being part of NEA because other than my now merger £33 per week I get nothing from them at al, no phone calls ,personal mentoring and only 1 email since January and this has frustrated me but actually any success I have is down to me, not some self obsessed ego claiming to be giving me guidance and advice.

If you have a good idea that you believe in and think will work then ,and your prepared to work hard then why bother trying to claim NEA ?? source the money elsewhere.

Working tax credits can help big time ,its all dependant on your previous years income but as most of us are on JSA for over a year you would get the top payment of £50ish per week and housing benefit and CTC will only be affected by your current income so whilst business is starting you wont have much to declare and when it picks up hopefully things get easier and HTB/CTC get lowered as your income increases.

I know its not always that simple for everyone so please don't think im being clever but I am sick of this useless system that we are all clinging onto for dear life , sometimes we just need to have a go ourselves and stick a finger up to those whom have control over our futures because if they say no a good idea it will go to waste and why should anyone else decide our future.

Rant over for today ...........

andyscott

Andy2013 wrote: »

Hey glad to see more of you joining in but sadly most seem to be having issues like myself.

So as far as the loan is concerned be very careful when applying because I was declined as a past CCJ now cleared showed up and this bounced the application which they agreed was a fault of theres but by the time I had an answer I had arranged other start up finance so avoided getting in to debt, which now I am very pleased about.

£1000 is indeed a small figure but remember its a LOAN not a gift so you pay it back and this could take a long time if it was a larger amount of money and from figures given to me probably 50% of us on here will not be self employed in 1 years time ,and you would not want to be lumbered with X amount of useless debt for years to come!!

A lot of us seem to be having trouble with NEA wetheir its invisible mentors, useless staff or no payments, so it does ask the question why are we all so reliant on being part of NEA because other than my now merger £33 per week I get nothing from them at al, no phone calls ,personal mentoring and only 1 email since January and this has frustrated me but actually any success I have is down to me, not some self obsessed ego claiming to be giving me guidance and advice.

If you have a good idea that you believe in and think will work then ,and your prepared to work hard then why bother trying to claim NEA ?? source the money elsewhere.

Working tax credits can help big time ,its all dependant on your previous years income but as most of us are on JSA for over a year you would get the top payment of £50ish per week and housing benefit and CTC will only be affected by your current income so whilst business is starting you wont have much to declare and when it picks up hopefully things get easier and HTB/CTC get lowered as your income increases.

I know its not always that simple for everyone so please don't think im being clever but I am sick of this useless system that we are all clinging onto for dear life , sometimes we just need to have a go ourselves and stick a finger up to those whom have control over our futures because if they say no a good idea it will go to waste and why should anyone else decide our future.

Rant over for today ...........

Must be something in the name, your rant mirrored what I was on here ranting about the other day.

I am not trying to put people off going self employed but I just feel that 90% of us can actually make it without NEA.

Like many others on here when I first heard about the scheme, I thought it would be great but I dont see any advantage for the majority going on NEA that you dont get when going it alone.

Loan - Its high interest, needs to start paying back straight away.

Mentor - They dont seem to contact you. They are also more used to dealing with folk who maybe have 10k and 3 years to turn profit. Where as we would be starting with max 1k and 3 months to turn profit. If you google uk business forums you will find a really good site, folk on it are great and always willing to give any advice that they can.

I know the business gateway that my local JC refers you to, allows the general public with a business idea to phone up and get to see a mentor free withing a few days instead of this waiting a couple of months.

NEA payments - About 95% of us would get better payments on Working Tax Credits than NEA.


Can anyone recall who on here was looking to start a bookkeeping business and was looking to get help from mentors with regards to advertising?

pinkypoopydoo

andyscott wrote: »

Can anyone recall who on here was looking to start a bookkeeping business and was looking to get help from mentors with regards to advertising?

That's me

I have no help whatsoever with marketing from my mentor. I ended up speaking to my financial adviser about how he marketed his business, and got some tips from him.

The best that my mentor could come up with was "Get some of those car magnets off Vistaprint"

ELMATHUD

This_Year wrote: »

Well as of Friday I hadn't heard anything from Ixion but I'm going to phone them tomorrow and chase it up. I suspect that my adviser didn't fax my referral form over but there'll be no way to prove that and all I'm after is getting started up on my own!

If Ixion haven't heard of me then I can chase it with my new adviser on Tuesday. That will be the 3rd new adviser in 4 weeks.

ixion was who i was with and i didnt find them helpful at all

i had more help from nwes and i was not even with them ( 40 minutes 1 on 1 and group meeting )
If you feel you have a good idea dont waste your time with these clowns and go for it .
Try business link

andyscott

pinkypoopydoo wrote: »

That's me

I have no help whatsoever with marketing from my mentor. I ended up speaking to my financial adviser about how he marketed his business, and got some tips from him.

The best that my mentor could come up with was "Get some of those car magnets off Vistaprint"

How is the business going?

Have you been able to get new clients easy enough?

With car magnets, did he mean small magnets you put onto other peoples cars?

pinkypoopydoo

He meant the big ones that you put on the side of your car when you are out - advertising on the move. I've not got any yet - I'm still trying to decide if they would be worth it.

I've picked up a couple of clients, not many though. Enough to pay the bills, and put a bit away for a rainy day, but not loads. I'll get there though - when it comes down to it, the best way to gain business is through word of mouth recommendations, so I'll just keep plugging away.

I have a website up and running, which is getting about 10 hits a day, which I'm pretty pleased with - hits must eventually produce business, surely - and I've paid a small fortune (well a fortune for me!) for some local advertising. I printed out a letter today which I'm going to send round some local businesses, introducing myself and outlining my services, and have listed myself in about a bazillion online directories.

I'll get there - some days I'm full of positivety, some days I feel a bit overwhelmed by the thought of not being able to pay the bills. I just need to try and minimise the hard days and enjoy the good days

Andy2013

andyscott ,I know its probably latin for " likes to voice opinions and have a rant"

I also don't want to put people of because some will need a good push to get going but I fear to many are hoping for some kind of magical guidance from NEA and my experience is nothing like that, in fact without a few pounds going into my account each week I wouldn't know I am on it.

All the promises are fake and hopefully a few do get more out of it but I certainly wont bang the drum for this scheme because it has been no use to me what so ever, except for the payments which get spent on stock.

pinkypoopydoo, your doing good just keep that chin up and push like crazy, its been great to follow your progress and like me your having a tough start .

I don't want to put a downer on your website but my business is built around one and is my sole tool for selling and last month I hit 12,000+ hits and my sales work out at less than 1% of those people viewing.

For me that is enough to make reasonable profit but I was shocked at how many looked but didn't buy.

Again it depends on your type of business as if its just a tool to get word around its different to someone like myself whom sells via a website.

WantToBeSE

Hey all.
I am interesting to read everyones opinions, especially yours Andy2013.
I would like to get going and make flyers and start advertising now.
Having waited 9 weeks just for a phone call to tell me that i will be waiting another 2-5 weeks, i cannot rely on the NEA scheme or it's mentors.

My concern is that i wont be able to earn enough to survive for the first few weeks, and wont work enough hours to get WTC. Although i WILL be working on the business, i may not actually be cleaning so am not sure where i stand with TCs.

I am going to discuss it with the Outset leader on Friday.

andyscott

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hey all.
I am interesting to read everyones opinions, especially yours Andy2013.
I would like to get going and make flyers and start advertising now.
Having waited 9 weeks just for a phone call to tell me that i will be waiting another 2-5 weeks, i cannot rely on the NEA scheme or it's mentors.

My concern is that i wont be able to earn enough to survive for the first few weeks, and wont work enough hours to get WTC. Although i WILL be working on the business, i may not actually be cleaning so am not sure where i stand with TCs.

I am going to discuss it with the Outset leader on Friday.

Go for it, we know you are determined enough to make it a success!

From what I have read with regard to tax credits just now, as long as your working on your business either marketing, advertising, cleaning etc it still counts towards your hours.

I can get you a great price from my supplier for flyers if you let me know size and quantity, I will let you know a price, at least it would give you an idea of the cost and they are the cheapest I have been able to find.