Small Business

MH0013

My Daughter is 18, just left school and would like to start a small business, do you know of any government schemes to help.
She does not want to be unemployed:D

steve1980

There is nothing available.

The country is on it's knees so the chance of getting any grant is about zero!

She'll have to put up the money herself or have at least 30% to put down towards a business loan. Of course she'll have to have a very business plan.

Does she know what she wants to run a business in?

lr1277

Apparently the Prince's Trust Enterprise programme does the following: copied from Prince's Trust site:
The Prince’s Trust supports unemployed young people aged 18-30 to work out if their business ideas are viable and whether self-employment is right for them.
Depending on the outcome of this process, the programme can then offer mentoring support and, for those that really need it, financial support to start a business or mentoring support to secure goals in employment, education or training.

I can't post links at the moment, but if you look up the Prince's Trust enterprise programme, you will find more details.

steve1980

It is only certain industries that the Princes Trust will give money to.

paddyrg

The majority of entrepreneurial activities happen without the help of handouts, but because the business owner spots a gap and put their all behind it. Does she have a real idea about what market gap she is chasing? Has she designed the next paperclip? Or just fancies playing shop?

There are jobs out there. If this is about money then she may just need to adjust her sights and take some harder work than she wants to, and learn some skills. For instance, holiday parks have a huge demand for 18-yr-olds to work bars. NMW, long hours, living on site, loads of new friends, and they provide training. And if you're good, you can rise through the ranks, it is all very merit-based.

MH0013

Thank you, your advice was not that helpful.
My daughter is hard working and has always worked part time, while at school.
She achived 3 As in her A levels and 8 A* in GCSE.
She was offered places at universities but declined as she has plans
for the future with or without assistance, I only asked if anything was available.
She has never claimed benefit.

chalkie99

As unhelpful as you think the advice offered has been, it is a fact of life that a huge proportion of small businesses fail in a short time scale.

Worse still, everyone and their dog now seems to think that renting one of the myriad of empty shops or an online store is the answer to their prayers. In my own daily life I am seeing established businesses still closing and new start ups failing within weeks.

My sincere advice would be for her to get a full time job somewhere for a while and see how the workplace really operates, learn how to interact with fellow workers, etc.

Plenty of time for her to see how the economy pans out.

pinetree

Hi Have posted on your other thread

paddyrg

MH0013 wrote: »

Thank you, your advice was not that helpful.
My daughter is hard working and has always worked part time, while at school.
She achived 3 As in her A levels and 8 A* in GCSE.
She was offered places at universities but declined as she has plans
for the future with or without assistance, I only asked if anything was available.
She has never claimed benefit.

How would we know any of this from your OP? I think, in fairness, you've had some pretty honest answers with some suitable alternatives or opportunities based on the information given.

If she has declined Uni so she can follow other plans, I would suggest raising startup capital will be one of the earliest of those plans. Working for someone else is a good way to do that. As Chalkie mentions, large and small businesses are dropping like flies at the moment - getting experience on someone else's coin is an awesome benefit.

Savvy_Sue

The advice is sound, whether you find it helpful or not, and is basically the same as is given whenever anyone asks about starting a business without giving a clear idea of what they want to do, and / or without startup funding in place.

I'd say the only chance your daughter has of making a go of running a business at this stage is if she has her own ideas, a sound understanding of how those ideas can actually make money, and a far wiser head on her shoulders than most 18 year olds. Plus, ready access to whatever startup funding is required - whether that comes from savings, family investment, selling all her wordly goods on ebay, or something similar. She MAY get help and advice via the Prince's Trust, but there's very little else out there.

And unless she does really have a completely unique and unheard of idea, far far better to be paid to learn which mistakes to avoid than to make those mistakes with her own money! :rotfl:

Businesslink is a useful site to explore.

I'll ask the Forum Team to merge your two threads on this subject: please see this rule.

paulwf

One option OP is if you are in a position to let her live at home rent free is for her to get a Christmas temp job so that she can build up some capital. Even if grants are available they are usually only for a grand or two so won't make much of a difference to the viability of the business plan.

At 18 she will probably have the energy to do a 30 hour a week job and then devote 40 hours a week to developing her business. If she can develop the business - even if it is just a small scale trial - that will give some real weight to a business plan so make it easier to attract investment.