Start up new business

Jayy01

Hi all, 

This is my first post and i am looking for some support in starting a new business as a recruitment consultancy and i am looking for some support on creating some terms and conditions for my business, email hosting recommendations, and virtual offices. I have found some terms from other companies which is exactly what i need but im not sure if that would land me in some heat, anyone else used modified terms from other companies? 

Anyone else who has been in my position before i would also like to hear your challenges and tips please.  

Thanks in advance. 

Sandtree

Why are you using virtual offices? Its an immediate red flag to many people.

Terms and conditions are automatically copyrighted, so stealing someone else's can land you in trouble however more fundamentally than that... how do you know if they are any good or not? It could have gaping holes and leave you open to personal liability etc. You should be starting a relationship with your lawyer now and they should be drafting the various different T&Cs you will be needing.

Why are you looking to separate email hosting from your website? Its traditionally both easier and cheaper to have the two together and if anything I can only see the reason why someone would love a particular mail provider (eg gmail) and its the web hosting they are agnostic about.

Challenges and tips will depend on what markets you are aiming at and what tools you're intending to use to filter candidates, deal with time sheeting etc for non-perm staff etc.

martindow

Are there trade bodies for recruitment agencies?  If so they may be able to answer a lot of your questions and be able to provide reliable t&cs.

Savvy_Sue

martindow said:

Are there trade bodies for recruitment agencies?  If so they may be able to answer a lot of your questions and be able to provide reliable t&cs.

Yes there are. 

I hope the OP has a USP / niche field, because one thing I don't think there's a shortage of generally is recruitment consultancies ... 

Jayy01

@Sandtree was looking to use virtual office as i didn't want my address on public companies house register. I dont have a website yet. 

I have chosen a company name which is available but cant find a suitable domain which is available so now I'm thinking of changing company name. 

I ha e found a company called 'company formations' that offer a registered company and director office address, bank account and and web hosting. But prices increase heavily 2nd year. 

Sandtree

Jayy01 said:

Sandtree was looking to use virtual office as i didn't want my address on public companies house register. I dont have a website yet. 

I have chosen a company name which is available but cant find a suitable domain which is available so now I'm thinking of changing company name. 

I ha e found a company called 'company formations' that offer a registered company and director office address, bank account and and web hosting. But prices increase heavily 2nd year. 

Again, why not? PO Boxes, virtual offices etc are all perfectly legal to be used but some people when doing their due diligence will notice your office has 5,000 businesses stating its their premises and will wonder why you are trying to hide/obfuscate? 

If you are a jeweller and have large amounts of gold etc at home then there is a clear reason but what has a recruitment agent got to hide? You planning on running off with candidate's pay?

Given the vast number of top level domains now available I'm surprised you cannot find a domain you can live with but certainly if you want .co.uk or .com it can be more difficult.

What are you planning to do on the accounting side? Most accountants will deal with the formation and using their address as the registered offices. I dont see why you'd pay a company to open a bank account for you when you can easily do it yourself and potentially earn any new customer bonus directly yourself rather than it going to the formation company. 

Jayy01

My brother is a recruiter and the plan is for him to help me set up and give me tips. He works for a established company and the reason i didn't want address on company house is so there are no issues for him because his contract doesn't allow him to even be involved in another business. He will not be part of my business i will be the only director but i don't wabt him to ever be in a position where his job could be at risk. I will be operating in a different market to him too, but there could be leads that he can pass me which he doesn't cover. 

martindow

Jayy01 said:

My brother is a recruiter and the plan is for him to help me set up and give me tips. He works for a established company and the reason i didn't want address on company house is so there are no issues for him because his contract doesn't allow him to even be involved in another business. He will not be part of my business i will be the only director but i don't wabt him to ever be in a position where his job could be at risk. I will be operating in a different market to him too, but there could be leads that he can pass me which he doesn't cover. 

I think your brother could be skating on very thin ice here.  If his employers get wind of him helping his sibling setting up in a similar business his job could be at risk.  You may consider that it will be in a different market but it is still recruitment.  The leads that you hope he may pass on to you presumably will have come from contacts he has as a result of his employment and this sounds especially risky for him.

I can understand him wanting to help you but I think he would be well advised not to.

Jayy01

This is why i want to use a virtual address so there is no link to him thus reducing risk. Its not like he is doing anything wrong 

martindow

That doesn't really make sense Jayy.  If he is doing nothing wrong there is no need to hide your connection with him.  You are clearly worried that his employer might see this differently.

It is inevitable that sooner or later your set up would be discovered and his job could be at risk.

Jayy01

I have asked him to look at his contract and there is a clause which states that he is not allowed without permission to be involved, be a director, or work in another business. 

He is keen in helping me regardless of this clause and says the worst that can happen is he loses his job but then he could support me full time.

This worries me because i will be at start up stage where as he is part of a well established corporation. Also i feel his company could also take legal action if he breaks employment contract clause or is this me being paranoid now?