Starting my own business....any advice?

[buggi]

o yea, and keep EVERY receipt AND keep it in DATE ORDER. your accountant will love you for it.

If the receipt doesn't state what exactly what it's for, write it on a piece of paper and staple the receipt to it.

 

[ASC1951]

Business cards and personal networking - get yourself known.

+1. Advertising is expensive and not always effective. Don't assume, for instance, that even a top-notch website will generate any business, because Google will throw up dozens or even hundreds of other similar sites for pretty much any business you care to name.
You are looking for work which is at least within driving distance, and shop-fitting is a trade where almost everyone who needs it already has established contacts, so as Accountantpete says, the best way is to get yourself out and about within your trading area. By all means have a website, but more as something to point people to than expecting it to pour enquiries into your Inbox.

Then it's just the usual - target peer leaders and do a professional job to generate referrals.

+1 to that as well. When I started my first business from scratch, we - solicitors - were not allowed to advertise. Even when we could 10 years later, we never did apart from very occasional sponsorship. Certainly where you are doing something for your customer, rather than selling them a finished product, it is cheaper and easier to get your customers to advertise for you by doing a good job - and IMO better for your soul as well.
One practical thing that we did was give people a 'How did we do?' form a week or so after the job. First, they appreciate being asked; and second, we got a lot of useful feedback from the occasional "You were crap because ..."

 

[Spinney]

...
Also, don't forget your cashflow. Remember you need to pay tax on your profits - the tax man takes a dim view if you get to the end of January (assuming you're a sole trader) and can't pay up. Don't forget VAT. You must register if your turnover (not profit) is over £79000 in the last 12 months, or you expect it to in the next 30 days. That's £6583 a month, and it's a rolling 12 months, so it's not based on your accounting year.

This is why some plumbers I have dealt with got me to buy the fittings etc, so the cost of the bath/sink/loo did not appear in their turnover. You will be cheaper to employ (so more competitive) if you can keep yourself below the VAT threshold. It will make your accounting much easier as well! Not sure if you can do this with your line of work, but it might be worth considering (I would imaging buying materials to supply them could push you near the threshold quite quickly).

 

[Raging Squirrel]

This is why some plumbers I have dealt with got me to buy the fittings etc, so the cost of the bath/sink/loo did not appear in their turnover. You will be cheaper to employ (so more competitive) if you can keep yourself below the VAT threshold. It will make your accounting much easier as well! Not sure if you can do this with your line of work, but it might be worth considering (I would imaging buying materials to supply them could push you near the threshold quite quickly).

That is an interesting point actually. I've just been thinking about having the revenue to be able to buy supplies upfront.

Would it make more sense to set up an account with a supplier with a 30 day invoice period? Then when I get a customer, order the materials and bill the customer for them with a 7 day invoice payment request, so that I have funds available within 7 days to pay for the materials from my supplier? And then when the job is complete, invoice the customer for the labour?

I don't want the customer to think that they are being ripped off or scammed by asking for money upfront, to me I wouldn't be sure if that seemed professional?

 

[Raging Squirrel]

Before you think of being self employed you will need public liability insurance for what you are doing, and if you don't yet have a trade in that area or suitably qualified, you better get it first.

Nothing like doing a botched job and someone getting hurt, you will end up in jail.

You need to be suitably qualified before you set up doing any building type work.

Got my quote yesterday for public liability insurance, £103 for the year which I was made up with.

 

[Raging Squirrel]

Vistaprint is your friend. I got my magenetic cars signs, business cards, some flyers and a ton of free stuff from them.

I've just been looking at all of the stuff on the Vistaprint website, I didn't realise they were so diverse! I was thinking of having a company logo, and they have hundreds of designs to choose from. I know it may not be unique to me, but it'd look professional. They do loads of freebies too which is always a good thing.

 

[Spinney]

That is an interesting point actually. I've just been thinking about having the revenue to be able to buy supplies upfront.

Would it make more sense to set up an account with a supplier with a 30 day invoice period? Then when I get a customer, order the materials and bill the customer for them with a 7 day invoice payment request, so that I have funds available within 7 days to pay for the materials from my supplier? And then when the job is complete, invoice the customer for the labour?

I don't want the customer to think that they are being ripped off or scammed by asking for money upfront, to me I wouldn't be sure if that seemed professional?

If you are thinking of the VAT threshold, I'm not sure that would work. If it's your account, wouldn't the supplier expect you to pay it? You would be liable to pay it, in any case. Or did you mean the customer would pay the invoice for you? Not sure how this would work. Maybe worry about the VAT threshold later when business is up and running!

If you are only thinking of cashflow then yes, I think that would work fine*. As long as you buy your stuff at a 'trade' place, I think most of those places will set up an account for you. (I've been sent for a bit of pipe halfway through a job**, and didn't have to pay, they just put it on the plumber's account). But the materials would probably have to be delivered to the site - if I was a customer I'd be wary of paying for materials that I hadn't seen.

* Please bear in mind that this is just from having employed a couple of tradesmen who did this. I have not tried to make it work myself. You could do with talking to someone in a similar trade (not ceilings, but anyone like plumbers etc who have to buy quite expensive bits of kit to fit - try kitchen fitters?)
**I was decorating in the house at the time, and didn't want him to delay completion because he had to go and get some bits!

 

[hopless500]

Before you think of being self employed you will need public liability insurance for what you are doing, and if you don't yet have a trade in that area or suitably qualified, you better get it first.

Nothing like doing a botched job and someone getting hurt, you will end up in jail.

You need to be suitably qualified before you set up doing any building type work.

As well as insurance, you probably will need to be looking at being CIS registered. We don't take subbies on unless they are, on the whole. CITB H&S basic course is quick and easy (and not mega expensive) and is a requirement for a CSCS card (and there are loads of types of CSCS cards - bit of a minefield, but CITB are pretty helpful most of the time and their originally dreadful website has been changed around a bit and is a tad more useful than it was ). And a lot of our customers insist on CIS cards and the like, so it isn't just if you work through, or for, a main contractor that you'll be needing one.

 

[Raging Squirrel]

Dont employ anyone.

Ever.

Haha. why not?

 

[Raging Squirrel]

i'm doing my business plan this week, need to think of a name for the business and it's driving me mad!

Any suggestions or advice on how to choose?

 

[Spinney]

Something that makes it clear what you do. Or that is mildly amusing (and therefore memorable).

I once chose a plumber from a phone book on the grounds that his trading name made me laugh (and he turned out to be OK).
The name was Tim'll Fix It. This was before all the fuss started - wonder what he calls his business now?

You could start a thread on here asking for suggestions! Explain what you are going to do and you'll get enough puns to last a lifetime!

 

[Raging Squirrel]

Haha Tim'll Fix It.....that's genius!

We have a dog groomer round this way called Snip Doggy Dog, I thought that was brilliant.

My first name is Kris, so I was playing with the idea of KrisKros Ceilings, obviously incorporating my name, and the fact that the grid work for the ceiling crisscrosses. My brother liked the idea of Altitude. Not really been able to think of any other decent ones.

 

[Spinney]

Those both sound fine to me! Yours better, as it mentions ceilings. Altitude would make me think of working outside buildings, at height.

 

[Raging Squirrel]

yeah that's what I was thinking, I relate altitude to, well, altitude, not 2.5 meters haha. I think he was thinking of the A making the company name being top of alphabetical listings

 

[MarkF]

There was a cheap £1 shop type business in Bradford called AvaGander, for years I couldn't understand how they got away with using her name.