Help with new business?

weezawoo

Hi

I am trying to start my own small business making pet collars and beds and a few others things to start with.

I have no idea about how to start and build a website at minimal costs and wondered if anyone knows the best way to do this?

Also I think I need things like liability insurance and what about tax and stuff I am really confused what I need to do? Can any one help me out a bit please?

Many thanks

somethingcorporate

I was going to point you in the direction of business link but not sure it still exists.

Start here: https://www.gov.uk/browse/business

gb12345

weezawoo wrote: »

I have no idea about how to start and build a website at minimal costs and wondered if anyone knows the best way to do this?

From this, I assume you have no web design/development skills, so you will need to pay someone to develop the site for you. You've got two choices .

1. Look locally for a web design company
2. Join up with one of the Freelance sites and post a project

The second option will be a lot cheaper, but you will have to do everything via email/skype.

Before you even consider approaching anyone though it would be a good idea to be totally clear about what you want from the website. Are you going to just be advertising the business or do you want a full e-commerce solution to actually sell online. If it is the latter then you will also need to consider how you are going to take payments.

weezawoo wrote: »

Also I think I need things like liability insurance

Definitely a good idea just in case one of your products injures someone (or their pet). You can get quotes for Public Liability insurance from comparision sites.

weezawoo wrote: »

and what about tax

You will need to register as self-employed and complete a self-assessment tax return each year.

somethingcorporate

gb12345 wrote: »

You will need to register as self-employed and complete a self-assessment tax return each year.

Just to elaborate on this you need to put aside about 30% of your earnings for the taxman.

chrisv24

I would suggest building a website with wordpress. You can easily get a template for free or buy a premium one if you want it to look more professional. They are reasonably easy to set-up with little knowledge and its simple to create and edit pages.

Mistral001

weezawoo wrote: »

Hi

I am trying to start my own small business making pet collars and beds and a few others things to start with.

I have no idea about how to start and build a website at minimal costs and wondered if anyone knows the best way to do this?

Also I think I need things like liability insurance and what about tax and stuff I am really confused what I need to do? Can any one help me out a bit please?

Many thanks

This is perhaps a market that is very very well catered for online so unless you are determined just to limit yourelf to distance selling online, I would consider firstly trying to sell your products locally first.

You will probably have far greater margins selling your products with a stall at a local market or a fair as postage costs are high when you sell online. Even selling them wholesale to the small local petshops might still provide better margins especially for the bigger items.