Time to turn it into a 'real business'?

meerustar

My friend made a few gift items once for a school fair. She sold the lot and people were asking her to make more, so she did and sold them, and then was asked to make more and so on and so on ....... even though she made a good profit on each item, it was never a business as such.

Now she is considering turning it into a business as she is still getting people asking for more and she can't keep up with demand. This is just locally. She has looked on ebay and there are NO SELLERS selling her product, so she's hoping to sell on ebay and sell locally too, producing flyers etc ...

Anyway, She has thought of a name for her business and together we have been searching the net for advice as to where to go from here.

She doesn't need any loans etc and has the finance behind her to carry on (There is not a huge layout anyway)

The business will be run from home, as she has a garage where she can store stock and make the items ... are there any pitfalls in a home based business?

What she is worried about is Tax, VAT, insurance, banking (how do you get a bank account with a business name) and all the usual questions. We have been overwhelmed with information we have found and the prospect is putting her off a bit, yet if she wants to branch out and do this full time then she'll have to go the proper route.

Anyone have any advice as to step one and where to go from there?

And is it normal to be nervous as hell at the prospect of starting up?

Thanks

novagirl

I found business link very useful in answering my questions. Also, take up the free seminars that HMRC offer.
It's very nerve-wracking when first starting out in my experience but as long as you prepare then I'm sure everything will go fine. It looks like you and your friend have done your research, now is just the time to put it all together.
Good luck

southernscouser

I'm not gonna pretend to know a single thing about running a buisness meer, but a couple of things.

Why is no-one selling on ebay? Is it because people have tried before and failed? Is it an untapped market? Is there no call for it on auction?

Could she try selling a few bits before jumping straight in?


And secondly, make sure she doesn't lose sight of why people snap them up. I take it she puts 100% effort into whatever she does and sells for reasonable prices. Don't be fooled that those who make the most money are the ones who charge the most and never scrimp on quality.

Just my thoughts from a total outsider which everyone in the know probably disagrees with! :rotfl:

I wish her good luck.

bylromarha

Business link business link business link

or if you're in the midlands, I've gone with wbda over business link as they cater really well for the fact that females are less prone to taking risks than men and their courses and support bear this in mind.

http://www.wbda.co.uk/

BTW: Bank account is dead easy if sole trader....open in the same way as a personal account...personal id is all that's needed and you get back shiny new bank stationary with your business name on...was v chuffed when I got mine as it made the business feel more real!

meerustar

Thanks for the info. I'll suggest she sticks to business link then. I'm really excited for her.

She has sold a couple on ebay herself using Buy It Now and they have sold same day. She has a few more she wants to put on this week (she want's me to do the ebay stuff for her as she thinks I'm good at it ... I have good feedback from selling my own tat that's all, lol)

I understand what you say SS as to why there are none on ebay. It seems this is a niche which hasn't been explored yet ... SHE FOUND A NICHE

Thanks everyone, I'll hopefully keep you all updated and you can watch the business reach for the sky

barrymung

I agree with southern scouser. Test market a few items on ebay and see how well they sell.

Try different combinations of Buy-it-now and normal auctions and experiment with text.

PixiePie

There are some excellent books I got off amazon as well that help with setting up your own business, which she might find good as well. One was The Small Business Start-up Workbook: A Step-by-step Guide to Starting the Business You've Dreamed of by Cheryl D. Rickman and Dame Anita Roddick which I found good as it's quite uplifting and postivie and the other was the Dumies guide to setting up a small business (but make sure its the UK version). THere are loads and loads of books that go through things step by step, these two were just two I found easy to read (some are a bit dry). Your local library should also have things like that in

The business Link website is good for knowing what you have to do and the steps as well as it's a really good interactive site, but I found them totally useless for any person help, they just didn't want to know, so don't get disappointed if that happens (same for my Mother and friend with them too - I think we just smell lol)

mancunian_lady

Hi Pixiepie,

I've been looking at these types of books myself - how do you know if the 'Dummies' book is the uk version and what exactly is the title of the one you found was useful, as there are a few different titles 'Starting a business', 'Online business', 'Small business', 'Home based' etc.

I was going to order one of them, so it would be useful to know which you found useful and how to tell if it is a uk version.

Thanks.

bbford

Just finished a short business course at York Uni. and highly recommended by students and lecturers was the Financial times,new business book

- will find out exact name for you, but when i put the above in amazon it did find the title.

HtH

Colin2511

I agree with Business Link - they helped me set up 3 years ago, and were great for advice, information and general helping in the setting up of a business - helped us decide to be ltd comapny rather than sole trader, where to go on bank accounts, business planning, phone numbers for training courses for inland revenue etc

I would not worry about VAT for now, as she will not be near the threshold yet,

I would say, in conjunction with the testing advice above, is that the minute you buy and sell to make a profit you are a business and should be registered as such, there are penalties for not registering within 3 months, so depending on when your friend first sold them at the fair and ebay, she should give the IR a call - they are friendly and will not bite when she calls and asks for advice...this is better than someone reporting her and then her getting a fine for tax avoidance, (and there are plenty of people on ebay who will report you to get rid of competitors, make it a fair playing field etc)

lavender_girl

mancunian_lady wrote: »

Hi Pixiepie,

I've been looking at these types of books myself - how do you know if the 'Dummies' book is the uk version and what exactly is the title of the one you found was useful, as there are a few different titles 'Starting a business', 'Online business', 'Small business', 'Home based' etc.

I was going to order one of them, so it would be useful to know which you found useful and how to tell if it is a uk version.

Thanks.

Hi,

I have recently bought from Amazon Starting and Running an online Business for Dummies by Dan Matthews and Greg Holden. UK Version
ISBN - 978-0-470-05768-1 ( £8.49)

I have tried many books, but this one is first class! Very helpful, put into a straight forward manner, with examples and points out pit falls and tips... I recommend this as you are able to pick and choose chapters as well as reading it all through, so good for reference.