Self Employment Question
Comments
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They might be vastly on the decline, but there will always be a core (baseline) market for them. We have yet to find anything which REPLACES the magazine (like VHS and DVD), but there is a lot more competition these days and probably not as lucrative as it was 10 years ago.
Absolutely - so you're chasing an ever decreasing customer base and trying ever harder to convince small businesses to pay for advertising in a medium they know is diminishing anyway - thats going to be a massive uphill struggle.
This company may have been around for 25 years but their hay day is long gone.0 -
This does not sound like a great idea in my opinion.
Have you ever tried to sell advertising space?
You have no circulation, even when you do, there is no guarantee people will read it. It will take a long time to build up any sort of trust/recognition. Its not a case of starting a magazine and then you sell a few spots and jobs a good'en.
You are also up against the business that call us every few weeks trying to scam us.
Personally, I would think you would be better placed trying to get something going yourself in the local area. Link up facebook and twitter with a website geared towards the local community. A directory of local businesses, events and so on. You also do not have the monthly expenditure of a loan that you are probably going to struggle to pay unless the business works from day 1?
I cant help but think taking out a loan to get a business off the ground at a time where you are struggling to pay the bills is not the most sensible of ideas. Putting aside your credit history (you can view your credit report for free at noddle.co.uk) you are still going to have to pass affordability checks.
Assuming you read all of the above and decide to proceed, would the franchisor(?) not allow you to pay them in instalments?
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Just to add, I started my own business in 2013. It took about 18 months before I was earning anything remotely like a wage on a semi regular basis. Most of my sales are big ticket where I only needed one mortgage a month to cover my bills. Chances are you are going to be selling transactions at maybe £50 a month? So you are going to need x number of sales to cover the loan, x number of sales to cover your expenses, x number of sales to make it worth while - how many is that each month.I am a Mortgage AdviserYou should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.0 -
I've found many small local businesses of the type that you would be approaching already advertise in a local booklet of adverts from small businesses that is put through the door every month as well as on local stuff for sale pages on Facebook.
+1
And most know the ROI on that advertising is very limited.0 -
You touched on it already saying you cant but id be focused on thinking of ways to bring value to your existing business.
Even if he has to teach you, or going forward, keep records of what you need so you can take over the admin going forward.
Your husband is clearly not good with the paperwork and thats fine, its not for everyone, so id focus on trying to get that figured out as the problem will never go away otherwise.0 -
It doesnt need replacing - the world has moved on. Dedicated forums, online searches, facebook groups, etc, etc. All new sources of information and knowledge.
I'm not saying it needs replacing. I'm saying that nothing (including your examples) has replaced magazines; you can still walk into your local shop and find a shelf full of them.
VHS, in contrast, has been replaced and you can no longer buy them from mainstream stores.
So it still has some baseline market. It may be dwindling, but it isn't DEAD. You can still make money in those circumstances, though it is harder and less lucrative and a bit of a financial risk.0 -
Absolutely - so you're chasing an ever decreasing customer base and trying ever harder to convince small businesses to pay for advertising in a medium they know is diminishing anyway - thats going to be a massive uphill struggle.
This company may have been around for 25 years but their hay day is long gone.
Well, I agree with your comments about it being a potential uphill struggle and the potential truth in "their hay day is long gone"
BUT the market still exists in some form and there may be scope to carve out some living if the conditions are right. If you disagree with that then perhaps share some statistics about magazines and their potential profitability? I would be genuinely interested to see them.0 -
Well, I agree with your comments about it being a potential uphill struggle and the potential truth in "their hay day is long gone"
BUT the market still exists in some form and there may be scope to carve out some living if the conditions are right. If you disagree with that then perhaps share some statistics about magazines and their potential profitability? I would be genuinely interested to see them.
I think this sounds like more of a directory than a magazine, and point out that hard copy Yellow Pages recently announced it's last edition.
Theres a shortage of HGV drivers nationally and it may be employment would serve husband better? Regular income, tax paid, and all the overtime you can shake a stick at in the run uo to Xmas.2021 GC £1365.71/ £24000 -
Lisaloppylulabell wrote: »Hi
I am looking into purchasing a franchise and becoming self employed. My husband is the one who pays all the bills as I have been raising the children. Both kids are now of school age and it’s time I got back into the working world. I have a lot of health problems and the only option for me is work from home. I have found a business that looks great - here is my problem.
Part of the reason I want to start working again is that my husband is awful with finances. He is also self employed but rarely does his paperwork which means were are always in the red with all of our monthly bills. My name isn’t on any of the bills except the council tax and that is also in the red. I think that will have affected my credit rating. My question is - Am I going to be able to get a start up load to get my franchise business off the ground or am I going to be shot down because of my husbands poor credit and inability to pay a bill on time. I have talked to him until I am blue in the face about paying things on time but he leaves it and leaves it and then does a load of paperwork at once - it goes like this - we get red bills and court action threats, he will do a crazy amount of paperwork, get the cash in, pay a big chunk off and then leave it again until we get the red bills and court threats. His credit is shot. He is currently in the process of trying to get an IVA to clear some of his credit bills but we don’t know if he will get it.
I want to get a business going so that I can get us out of this mess and start bringing money in. (I can’t help him with his paperwork, it’s all stuff that needs doing on the job and he’s in the HGV trade, I have no idea about trucks! Believe me if I could, it would be done).
Any ideas of where I can go to get a franchise start up loan that will ignore the mess my husband is in. Do I say it’s a secondary income and my husband takes care of the bills? I assume they are gonna want to see bank statements showing our in and outgoings? I just feel trapped - I can’t get a normal 9-5 as my health fluctuates but I’m ‘not sick enough’ for PIP. This feels like my only option so any ideas would be massively appreciated.
Thank you
There are very few franchises that are worth it. They take big cuts from people who aren't very business minded (usually)
People who are business minded don't need a franchise name unless it's a really well known brand. I highly doubt this magazine company you are looking for is well known enough that if you walk into a shop they will go ooooo I've heard of them sign me up!!!!
So am I telling you not to do it? Nope. I'm telling you that if you are the sort of person who is 'ready' to do this sort of business - then make your own magazine and don't pay someone to do a little bit of the work for a huge chunk of your profits.
Believe me I know too many people who have got sucked into these 'small' franchises who end up putting in more time then it's worth to them on an hourly rate...certainly money can be made...but by the time you've bought the business and paid their fees, compared to taking the leap of doing this yourself - you'll thank yourself for it later.People don't know what they want until you show them.0 -
I'm not saying it needs replacing. I'm saying that nothing (including your examples) has replaced magazines; you can still walk into your local shop and find a shelf full of them.
I'm not disagreeing with you, merely pointing out that magazines as a primary medium is something that is longsince on the decline. You may well see loads of magazines in your local shop but i'd wager that ALL of them are selling in much much smaller numbers than they used to. Quite a few are closing down or merging with others too.
So you're chasing a smaller and smaller pot of customers for those mags - and your advertising base is more and more aware of that and more and more reluctant to spend money on paper based advertising.
VHS, in contrast, has been replaced and you can no longer buy them from mainstream stores.
Yup.
So it still has some baseline market. It may be dwindling, but it isn't DEAD. You can still make money in those circumstances, though it is harder and less lucrative and a bit of a financial risk.
I didnt say it was DEAD i said it was DECLINING. So you're constantly fighting for market share is a smaller and smaller market and trying to convince bricks and mortar retailers and small businesses that they should invest their hard earned in a medium thats on the decline. Very hard sell these days. Very hard to get repeat business when they will see little or no ROI.
To compete in a declining market you need to be offering something EXCEPTIONAL. I dont think a community / parent mag is offering that and i dont think ringing people up and trying to sell them advertising space is something they wont have heard 100 times before.
To me it would have been something that wouldnt even have been exceptional or new in the 1990s, let along now in the digital age.0
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