Trying to find a way to replace some of my income! any help much appreciated

donmon

DaveTheMus wrote: »

Would it be more tax efficient to take your wages as a quarterly dividend?

I'm not sure? We pay ourselves just by taking the money straight out of the business account at the end of each month. We have an accountant to sort out all of our tax etc at the end of the year as we don't know a great deal about taxes etc.

donmon

@katykicker could you explain a little of how the writing websites work? do they pay quite well for the time put in?

System

Well each website runs different, TextBroker, Dooyoo and Ciao, the main ones I use, have threads on here, where I've posted quite a lot, and have others, definitely worth a read if you have time.

Textbroker pays well, if you can write very high quality articles, but I don't seem to meet their exacting standards so I earn a moderate amount there per article.

culpepper

Do you have a mail order side to your business?
If not that might be something to look into.
There is a shop in our town (not a pet shop)that is run by one lady who sits behind her computer when not dealing with a customer. She seems to do most of her selling that way and the shop is really just the real life interaction portal.

Does the shop's income rely on the both of you to be there?
Otherwise as has been suggested above, one of you might find a job outside the shop while the other person runs it until you have built it up to support the outgoings reliably.

You can make quite a hole in your outgoings by being more frugal...the oldstyle part of the forum here is very friendly.

donmon

culpepper wrote: »

Do you have a mail order side to your business?
If not that might be something to look into.
There is a shop in our town (not a pet shop)that is run by one lady who sits behind her computer when not dealing with a customer. She seems to do most of her selling that way and the shop is really just the real life interaction portal.

Does the shop's income rely on the both of you to be there?
Otherwise as has been suggested above, one of you might find a job outside the shop while the other person runs it until you have built it up to support the outgoings reliably.

You can make quite a hole in your outgoings by being more frugal...the oldstyle part of the forum here is very friendly.

No the shops income doesn't necessarily rely on us both being there but it certainly makes a difference when we have all hands on deck. Im currently already working another job as you have suggested however am hoping to find a way to make business more profitable so that I can leave it.
We don't currently have a mail order website and it is definitely one of my current aims to start one up, however I have no experience in setting up and running a website so i'm not exactly sure on the best way to get started?
Sending objects like large bags of dog food for example is very expensive as far as I can see, but somehow big internet companies often manage to do this for little or no charge, Does anyone know how I might go about finding the cheapest way to do this? thanks everyone who has answered so far, discussing things is very helpful!

savvystudent

Try selling some of your higher margin items on ebay or Amazon. If nothing else, it's good for market research, finding price points, building a database and working out what sells!

culpepper

donmon wrote: »

Sending objects like large bags of dog food for example is very expensive as far as I can see, but somehow big internet companies often manage to do this for little or no charge, Does anyone know how I might go about finding the cheapest way to do this? thanks everyone who has answered so far, discussing things is very helpful!

What about offering local delivery?
You could have one of you do this from your van .
The accountant should be able to advise you about the proportion of fuel costs that can be claimed against your tax bill to help you to determine a price.

Kayalana99

donmon wrote: »

No the shops income doesn't necessarily rely on us both being there

Could you in theory step back from the pet shop and would hubbie manage to keep everything in order full time?

Could you then take the other suggestion and start selling online?

You could set it up in the pet shop(computer internet? front till back room you name it) so you are still working along side hubbie still and always their as an extra pair hands ....

?

I think their has been some good suggestions I'm thinking that my MIL goes to pets at home speically as they sell the food she buys at a certain price...perhaps you need to do some market research as to why people will drive out to another pet store rather then come direct to you, if you could take a step away from the till...to market the business through online and other ventures whilst your partner does the shop work..you could grow it. Sometimes whilst running a businses you get to a point your comfortable with and stop trying to expand and just run it.

Personally if I had a working pet shop, hire staff and repeat process to second pet shop.

donmon

@culpepper, we are currently already offering free delivery in the local area which is great as it gets us customers that may otherwise go to a larger, cheaper store.
@kayalana great suggestions (I am the hubby btw!) the main problem though is freeing up some of my time so that i can pursue these ideas. I think Im going to try and save up a few months wages so that i can quit my second job and be secure for a while whilst i try to create new income!

Delphine100

Here's some ideas (I'm thinking of things that target the same customer) ...

Dog grooming - an add on for your business, can be done on site if you've got the space and facilities and can be quite lucrative too.

Pet sitting service / dog walking service - you'll probably have to recruit people to do this for you but could be do-able!

Handmade dog biscuits - produce and sell your own line of dog biscuits or dog treats. Build your own brand!

Luxury pet brand selling fancy collars, leads, pet clothing etc. This can depend upon where you're located and if you have customers who would buy this kind of thing but this could go mail order too.

Pet photography - work with a local photographer to offer this, you take a cut?

Hope these help x