How to start up, lots of help needed!

1stBusiness

Hi all, hope you can help me with this

I've been wanting to start my own business for some time, but have no experience/idea how to start. I've done some research online, but I still have lots of learning to do. I was hoping to find a part-time business course near me, but haven't had any luck atm.

I love baking (and all food in general ) and often see cake stalls at markets/cafes etc and I think I could make cakes just as well as them - if not better. My current "customers" is just friends, family and work colleagues, but they often ask why I don't bake as a career.

I had a few ideas that I've always had in my mind, but it seems I'm too slow to act on them. I noticed dessert shops (Creams etc) opening up everywhere and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity as there are none where I live. A couple of months later a chain pops up! I also thought of opening a sweet shop, as I thought it would be relatively easy to start and I love sweets. I had even spotted the perfect location...bam! A lovely independent old fashioned sweet shop opens there Another idea I had was opening a tea room, but I have no idea where to start.

I considered opening a market stall to sell my cakes, but I can't as I would need food hygiene certificates for my kitchen and I can't due to living in rented accommodation.

I currently work full-time (office admin) and I don't have loads of spare cash/savings to invest, so I would need to get a bank loan to start my business up.

Anyone got any tips/advice on where I should start?

TIA

Savvy_Sue

Think really carefully about whether you'd still enjoy baking if you HAD to do it ... all day, every day.

And if you want to open a tea room, get some experience of working in one first, and pick up all the tips (both money and 'how not to ...') you can.

fishybusiness

Work out your costs.

If you are considering renting premises, do a bit of homework on rent, rates, insurance, electricity and maybe phone costs.

That is your baseline income required to maintain a premises.

Add your potential bank loan payback and day to day cashflow, paying suppliers, etc and see how the numbers look.

Can you sell enough of your product on a week to week basis to cover your overheads and pay a wage?

At the end of it all, it is the numbers that are important, if they do not work, nor does your business idea.

Mistral001

The OP says that she lives in rented accommodation. If that means you do not own any property, you will almost certainly need a property owner to be a guarantor before you can get a bank loan. That will mean the guarantor will effectively be staking their property on your business venture.


I would start very slowly so that you can find your niche and build up some capital from the business to spend on growing it more. Perhaps a stall selling something other than goods needing to satisfy the hygiene regulations.

martindow

1stBusiness wrote: »

I considered opening a market stall to sell my cakes, but I can't as I would need food hygiene certificates for my kitchen and I can't due to living in rented accommodation.

Are you sure this is correct? If the food hygiene people wanted alterations made that would be a problem, but if they are happy with the kitchen as it stands, would being in a rental prevent the granting of a certificate?

You may need to ask the consent of your LL as most tenancy agreements do not allow businesses to be run without the LL's permission.

1stBusiness

Thanks for your help everyone

With regards to getting a bank loan - I've never applied for one before, so I wasn't aware I needed a guarantor I'm sure if I had a firm business plan my parents could be my guarantors.

With regards to living in a rented proeprty - my last flat specifically prohibited running a business in my contract. I'm not sure about where I currently live. My OH has suggested registering my business (obviously not making cakes) at my parents address to get around this, but I'm a bit wary of this.

He's suggested I start a website selling sweets part-time to see how things go. The start up costs would be relatively cheap, and if it's not making money I haven't lost too much. What do you think of this idea?

fishybusiness

He's suggested I start a website selling sweets part-time to see how things go. The start up costs would be relatively cheap, and if it's not making money I haven't lost too much. What do you think of this idea?

Buying a domain name and hosting will give you change from £50.

Creating a legit looking site with payment options, even Paypal is getting in to real eCommerce.

Once your site is looking good and stocked, how would you encourage traffic, and then turn traffic in to sales?

Its a job in itself, IMO you would be better having a go trading on ebay, playing with margins, costs and what sells and what does not.

1stBusiness

fishybusiness wrote: »

Buying a domain name and hosting will give you change from £50.

Creating a legit looking site with payment options, even Paypal is getting in to real eCommerce.

Once your site is looking good and stocked, how would you encourage traffic, and then turn traffic in to sales?

Its a job in itself, IMO you would be better having a go trading on ebay, playing with margins, costs and what sells and what does not.

I've thought about advertising at work (we have a classifieds) and on Facebook to see what interest there would be. Asking people what sorts of sweets they would be likely to buy etc. I've only ever sold an old mobile phone on Ebay and have never bought anything from there, so I don't have much knowledge in that area!

I've also been thinking about if I could maybe set up a market stall on the weekends to sell my products/advertise what I can make (gift hampers/party favours etc) and get orders. I used to help my mum run a tuck shop after school and it was always heaving with customers.

Savvy_Sue

would you not need to get your kitchen checked out by Environmental Health if you're making sweets?

1stBusiness

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

would you not need to get your kitchen checked out by Environmental Health if you're making sweets?

Sorry, I meant I would be buying the sweets wholesale.

fishybusiness

Following your thoughts about buying wholesale....

Have you priced up the cost of sweets, and how much you can purchase say 20kg of midget gems for, and then looked at the retail price?

Also, looking at turnover with a wholesaler, minimum orders quantity may be an issue to get any kind of discount worth having.

What I am getting at is that at this stage the numbers really are important to start to get a grip of what is possible. Some of the questions you are asking would be answered if you had a chat with a wholesaler.

I've also been thinking about if I could maybe set up a market stall on the weekends to sell my products/advertise what I can make (gift hampers/party favours etc) and get orders.

Is anyone else doing it at your market? If not, there is your opening. We bought sweety gift hampers before Christmas, and if you could make them rather than buy in, wouldn't that drop your costs, and increase margins, plus make the product your own rather than just bought it?