Starting a business in a recession - Only for the brave?
Starting a Business in the Recession.
Starting a Business in the Recession.
Only for the brave?
There are numerous reasons for starting a business, and many very successful businesses have grown almost by accident. Whilst Richard Branson obviously had a major game-plan, who could have believed his Virgin empire would have grown out of school-boy trading?
Timing is crucial, but so are opportunities, brilliant ideas, hard work, great luck, natural ability, and of course good cashflow.
Whilst the current recession has its business casualties, it also creates great opportunities. How many civil servants and former Connaught employees have been biding their time to strike out on their own? Redundancy is a great catalyst to get budding entrepreneurs into harness.
And whilst the market may appear to be shrinking, houses must still be maintained, parcels must still be delivered, book keeping records and accounts must still be kept, websites built, roads dug up and re-surfaced, property traded, vehicles repaired and maintained. The list of potential opportunities is endless.
So what is required?
Firstly a pretty clear plan of what you are doing and why. Today this should take the form of a written business plan. Include your trading name and style of trading, a corporate aim, business values, and the reasoning behind your venture. Prove that you have carried out market research and that there is indeed a need for your type of operation. Include details about your own experience and skills, what you know about the competition, your proposed premises, marketing, staff, product sourcing, stock holding, and the risks associated with over/under stocking. Add some milestones, a list of advisors and partners, how you will finance things, and the all important review dates.
Reviews are vital because no business venture works according to plan. Some targets will be easy and happen almost overnight, others you will never achieve.
Include budgets and cash flow forecasts. This will help your financial partners to understand the situation when you ask for funding.
Think about family commitments. What must you draw out each month? Who do you have to provide for? What lifestyle are they used to? Can you realistically prejudice their security?
How will you fund it? Yourself? Family and partners? Trading partners? Banks? Venture capital?
Consider whether you are going to buy or rent premises; banks and landlords may expect guarantees secured against property possibly your home! How is your credit rating? What do you owe on HP and credit cards?
Having cleared all these hurdles it may be time for a bit of action.
If you require premises from which to trade, why not take a look at our website for some local business premises
www.somerset-warehouses.co.ukI have heard of so many different successful business start-ups.
Here are some examples
Executive made redundant, with 6 months salary, his old company car, and the prime client list from his old employer. Now running a very successful interior design and project management operation.
Unemployed but determined, who used his "dole" to buy materials to build a garden shed, which he sold for a profit and built another, and so on until he had built a very successful business employing a large team of carpenters and installers.
Redundant and now employs his old boss. From working in a factory moulding fibreglass, this entrepreneur took over when his boss went bust, grew the business, re-employed his old boss, and now drives an Aston Martin.
A cowman, milking cows, who developed a bad back and could not work. He decided to re-invent himself as a trainer in the correct way to lift and carry. This grew to be a significant business working on production lines, cross-channel ferries, and supermarkets. So successful he then sold the business.
The yardman at a builders merchants. Tired of filling bags of sand, he opened a home-brew shop. By analysing the busy times of day he adjusted his business hours to suit, thereby achieving an easy lifestyle. He then sold his very successful business to someone who turned it into an off-licence, which closed within 12 months.
And there is the rub. One person may be highly successful because of personal attributes-; experience, training and qualifications, commitment, vision, inter-personal skills, business acumen. Another may fail in the same business due to personality, poor research, bad management, financial burdens, lack of planning, and they will call it bad luck!
So, think about the caustic mix of your personality, the expectations of you and your family, how well you research your project, how you will finance things and can you stand long hours and very hard work?
Finally, where do you want to be?
The vision is everything. If you want to do the same thing for the rest of your life, be cautious. If you plan to retire in 10 years to a Caribbean Island - go for it!
Anthony Bucke
www.somerset-warehouses.co.uk Starting a business in a recession - Only for the brave?
By: Anthony Bucke
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