Accountant Small Business HELP PLEASE!

lincroft1710

What they don't conveniently tell you is how many hours per month you have to iron to earn £500.

In any case, as others have said, £5K for a list of 15 names is a joke.

paulwf

I can't see anything wrong with buying a client list. In fact it makes perfect sense as a way of kickstarting your business so that you get some income straight away and can build on it from there. However I do see what the others are saying and there has to be some disclaimers:

- you are just buying a client list not a business. There also needs to be a clause before payment such as you will only pay per client that stays with you for 3 months. £5000 is ridiculous, I think £50 a name that stays with you in the absolute maximum. Remember a business is only worth what someone will pay for it, if no one offers more than what you do they will take it.

- is the current business model viable? If you need to put prices up then there is no point in buying the client list. Why is someone selling their business after only 2 years?

- why is the current owner keeping the equipment? You need a watertight non compete clause to even think about buying this list.

To succeed you must also enjoy the business that you run. As your example shows by the time you cover expenses you are basically spending a lot of time ironing for minimum wage. If you enjoy ironing, only want to earn a few thousand and don't mind a low hourly rate than that's great. It does look like a good flexible "up your income" job to fit around the kids so has potential. Do remember though that you can't let clients down, what will you do if you are feeling ill or want to go on holiday?

blinko

AVOID, client lists are practically worthless. If you do buy this client list who are YOU going to sell it too ??

My ADVICE is AVOID

an Ironing business is easy to startup. Just put ads in local paper and away you go

DELLBOY_2

instead of buying the client list offer them a % for the current lists spend for the first 12 months ,if its as stated make sure the earn slightly more if its less then they earn a lot less .

podperson

She is asking for a ridiculous amount there - over £300 per customer name and no guarantee they will even want to stay with you! I would suggest you think about whether if you spent the £1600 you have in advertising do you think you would be able to get 15 customes from that? Tbh I would be quite shocked if you couldn't for that money and would think it could easily be done on half or even a quarter of that.

Suarez

MrandMrsT wrote: »

The current owner is saying she could easily get £5,000 for the business.

Why doesn't she sell for £5k then?

I have offered £1,600 - for the client list of approximately 15 names and addresses and for the business name and website.

That's crazy! I could knock on a few doors on my street and collect 15 names of people who would pay for an ironing service - will you pay me £1600 for them?

You will soon build up a good reputation if you are reasonably priced and do a good job

Edit : I'd even throw in a free website..

POPPYOSCAR

Just a small point about example 2

Why are you putting wages down as a deduction from profit? If you are doing all the ironing yourself this is not an expense deduction, this is your profit.

Mistral001

See post No. 8. OP has offered £1600. I wonder if it was accepted.

Might not be such an outlandish price to pay for a business that is going to provide steady income more or less from the start.

steve1980

Mistral001 wrote: »

See post No. 8. OP has offered £1600. I wonder if it was accepted.

Might not be such an outlandish price to pay for a business that is going to provide steady income more or less from the start.

As long as the clients given to her on the list (not the business) actually carry on of course.