Small Business Advice

[dazzler]

Hi all

This is a question to all those in/have been in small business. I am thinking of going into small business but am concerned over all the negativity that seems to be out there.

I started my working life as a diesel mechanic and enjoyed it for six years. Moved into law enforcement/investigations for the next 17 years. I was badly injured in an arrest and will never work operationally again. Kinda lost its appeal somewhat and am thinking of buying/starting an auto repair business.

I have done a small business course and not afraid of long hours but am still worried of failure. What is surprising is that so many business' seem to have people running them that dont appear suited to interacting with the public.

The book keeping side will be taken care of for me so thats a start.

So I was after some real advice from those with experience. Has it been a good, bad or indifferent experience?

cheers

dazzler

[echnidna]

What is surprising is that so many business' seem to have people running them that dont appear suited to interacting with the public.

Those businesses dont survive in the long haul

Even though you have book keeping organised its vital that YOU continually monitor the books to ensure you dont slide down the gurgler unexpectedly.

Good luck.
Have a ball as business can be a lot of fun despite some traps.

[Gumby]

Everybody commences a business with the fear of failure to some degree. It's a good thing. If you don't have a go, you'll never know. I did. I left a manager's position 11 years ago and went out on my own. best thing I ever did.

If people didn't start because they were afraid, there wouldn't be too many small businesses out there. Have a crack.

[maglite]

Negativity is everywhere,wether in business or working for someone else, not too many people are happy all the time.

The rewards are definately there and there is loads of support these days, i wish that was around when i started out.
Check out the local BEC in your area, lotsa info.
I started mine cos i didnt want to be on my "deathbed" and wondering "what if ".
So i quit my job and went down the path, have been doing it nearly 20 years.
Sometimes it all gives me the horrors, but i wouldnt swap it all for the world.


I'm with the other guys....... give it a red hot go!!!

Cheers
Steve

[aeg20boat]

Hi there, I just read your post about your unfortunate injury. I also noticed you live in Hobart. I can image what the job must have been like down there.

My wife, baby son and I went to Hobart for the woodenboat festival this year. It was a hopeless event lacking any real timber boats!! Apart from that everything we'd been told, about Hobart, by tourism folks what bogas.

The air was dirty, the streets polluted and the people very, very unfriendly. I had never seen so much crime, people injecting drugs in the street and I even witnessed a robbery, from the balcony of the place where we were staying. Everyone we met had absolutely no manners and all seemed to speak a different dialect.
People stared at us because we didn't look familiar, someone hit me with their car , people picked fights with me because I wasn't part of the gene pool and I wore a flanelette shirt.
My wife and I were abused by a bunch of stunted halfwits and we both got a terrible case of food poisoning.
It dosen't end there, We were walking over the Tasman bridge when a woman riding a push bike rode straight into the back of me. I casually said "Don't you have any manners" and she started punching me in the back of the head. Shortly after, I was arrested because she had made a false complaint to the police. I spent that evening in gaol and the coppers there were certain I was a criminal and worried that I would thump them.
I would relish thumping everyone we encountered, however being a married man and a father, I am forced to have other priorities.
We found the place a thrid world country and we're trying hard to forget that we were there.
I just had to get that off my chest... It's been eating at me a while.
I just can't imagine what sort of job you had.

Such is life ....Adam

[Optimark]

I started in small business after getting the sack in my early forties, something that cannot happen to me did happen. Basically the company was going through very lean times and I got the flick 2 weeks before 15 years of service came up, along with about 4 others in the same boat. I couldn’t get a job, as I appeared to be either too old, too experienced or too expensive.
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Anyway I eventually started a small business from home and 14½ years later it’s going extremely strong.
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Factors you must take into account are basically this:- are you looking for a self employed job, or are you looking to operate your own profit making business. The difference is quite enormous and not fully appreciated by most people at the start. I didn’t really appreciate this difference at the start even though I had had my own business 15 years before this one.

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You should view the operating of a small business as one that should employ yourself and possibly a couple of other people. These people should all be able to be paid remuneration at a rate that is commensurate to their station in the business, plus all other costs incurred in doing this. Then eventually, when the business is established, it (the business) should be capable of making a profit on top of all expenses that gives a reasonable return on the capital invested in the business.
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If after some careful deliberation you can see this objective, or similar objectives being attained, then do it.
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I believe that yes, there is quite a negative attitude in the small business world, especially by people who aren’t able to make a go of it for whatever reason. However my personal experience is that if you select the right kind of business for your personality and are able to choose one that you like, then you will and should be quite successful.

I could go on for quite a time but in reality I firmly believe that if you are capable of operating a small business, have the right aptitude, do not fall ill often and have a positive work attitude, you should be pleasantly successful beyond your realistic dreams.

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->Mick.

[Studley 2436]

Give it a go. I think the best advice I have ever been given and is touted pretty commonly is that you must be carefull to work ON your business and not just in it.

You can employ mechanics secretaries and the like. Let them do all the stuff in the business if it is at all possible. Keep yourself for the really important stuff setting priorities, making policy for the underlings to follow, taking charge, and being the leader. Work on finding out what your customers are after and how you can satisfy their needs. It is probably really good to have an apprentice to keep the shop clean. Nothing is such a bad look as a brilliant mechanic trying to keep it all together that the shop is all higgledy piggledy and no one knows which way they are going.

I heard a story of a Hobart woman selling fireplaces who decided she was selling romance and did a TV campaign and just went from being a small player to the major operator. In restaurants they are selling pleasure. Food is just the means to the end. Of course if the food is rubbish no amount of fluffing will make up for that but people want to be made to feel important. I guess for a Dieso they just want rock solid dependable get the machine back to paid work right away.

Studley

[graemet]

Hi daz,
Give it a go. I worked for bosses until I was nearly 40. My last boss told me I would never be able to run a business, which is why he didn't offer to let me buy in.
I started my own place, with no staff at all. Now it is one of the largest privately owned of its type and I have two partners and 11 staff.
Advice:
Be prepared to PAY for good advice from an accountant and lawyer, - free advice is worth what you pay for it!
Charge your time at what it's worth on the open market, if you try to discount to get work, you make a loss, the customer gets a cheap job and wants it again on repeat business so you miss out again.
Don't try and cut corners to make up for a poorly quoted job. If you did make a blue in quoting, that's your problem, but a poorly executed job will come back to haunt you and end up costing you more than if you had done it right in the first place.
Be prepared to value-add in areas that don't cost you much more than a bit of time. The customer remembers the little extra things (like the mechanic who blacks the tyres or vacuums the carpets when he services your car).
In most businesses it's the repeat business that makes it successful. It costs 3 times as much to get a new client than to keep an old one.
Take pride in your work - do it once, do it well!
Good luck,
Graeme

[Iain]

Make sure you have about a years pay for yourself and don't expect to make a fortune from day one, a lot come undone who are not prepared for little or no inco,e for a few months.

[NotRalph]

Mr Dazzler,
I have been self employed for some 30 years now and I have found that when I am motivated and keep right on top of my bookwork that I do exceedingly well. The reverse also applies, so be sure that you are motivated to do the best for yourself, your dependants and you4r customers and add to that some excellent advice from those preceeding me in this post and you will do well. I wish you the very best in your endeavours.

[outback]

I'm not yet 40.
Never had a full time job.
Have always run my own business, with a little extra income from bits and pieces.

Hours suck, earlier in the year I managed over 100 hours a week for about six weeks.

Pay sucks. I'm in a commodity driven market, makes it difficult even with a lot of planning.

Boss Sucks. Whip wielding maniac, no compassion, no sick leave, I try to get 1/2 a day a week to myself, doesn't happen often, but he doesn't care.

Stress sucks, seeing things completely out of your conttrol stuff up your best laid plans leads to a little pissedoffness from time to time.

My advice.




Just bloody well do it. You won't regret it no matter the outcome. If it works, good for you, if it don't, you won't die wondering.

[echnidna]

Outback, thats a great description of running your own business
but as you said
"Just bloody well do it. You won't regret it no matter the outcome. If it works, good for you, if it don't, you won't die wondering."

BTW just gave you a greenie and I don't hand many out.

[Tonyz]

I recently read the results of a major RELIABLE survey done in Aussie old age centres and 90% said given the opportunity they would have taken bigger risks.
Iam 54 have been employed in city lobouring jobs all my life ie factort hand to checkout cowboy and then last Dec moved to the country with wife and family, buying a franchise business cleaning and 'pickling' grain for local farmers. This was more than a sea change and we have not regreated it at all.
Go for it..,...... Tony

[Dusty]

Go for it.

Good to see so many others on the boards have also gone for it and reaped the rewards.

[outback]

Thanks for the greenie Bob, much appreciated.

It does seem that some days are gravel, some days are stone, but I'm afraid I was built to be employed. I have enough trouble putting up with me, no-one else would have a hope.

[beejay1]

Make sure you have about a years pay for yourself and don't expect to make a fortune from day one, a lot come undone who are not prepared for little or no inco,e for a few months.

Probably the most sensible advice given on this. You will probably not make any money during your first year so do plan for this.
Being your own boss is wonderful but it still brings pressure to bear, the main thing being the lack of a guaranteed monthly income. You will have the occasional panic attacks about this but if you are committed to the life change and truly beleive in your own ability to succeed then things usually work out for you.
Do not play at this, but give it everything you've got particularly during the first year and dont assume that becaues you may know lots of people/contacts that work will automatically fall your way...it wont,,,you will have to earn the respect. trust and credibility of potential clients.
After your first paycheque, you will feel its all been worth it and your confidence levels will go through the roof.
Be prepared to work all hours and weekends as you establish the business, something you will actually enjoy because its for you.
Its a great life and you will feel that for the first time, you are doing something that is meaningfull.
Good luck with the venture and be happy.
beejay1

http://community.webshots.com/user/eunos9

[kiwigeo]

.....all seemed to speak a different dialect.



Adam, youre going to have major problems if you ever plan a holiday in New Zealand.

[Schtoo]

Not sure how qualified I am to post here, but anyway.

I went from a regular income on the tools as a sparky to coming here with no garanteed job, and not really knowing anyone. Loooong story, and I don't tell it very often so you might have to keep on waiting.

As it turned out, it was the worst thing I have ever done, but at the very same time the best thing I have ever done, and probably ever will do.

Worst, because I now know what it's like to be stone broke. Try living off $600 a month for over a year, and do it in the most expensive country on the planet. I wish you good luck if you want to try because I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Well, maybe some people...

Circumstances changed somewhat (no details thanks!) and I went from hand to foot to being dumped into my own 'business' of sorts. Luckily, I seem to just swim rather than sink. Not breaking records, just stay moving.

Which is what I am doing now. I work a grand total of 21 hours regularly each week. Nothing spectacular, but it's enough to keep ticking. At the same time, I don't think I am doing any worse right now than when I was a sparky, everything considered. I'd like to be doing better, but I'm not right now and I can live with it. Also working out how I can sell stuff made from wood over here. Seems I might be able to cut my own little niche in that here, which is nice.

Anyway, what I have learned is...

You can't please everyone. If someone is not going to buy, then don't get all broken up about it. At first I was very annoyed that someone would imply interest, then walk. Now I just don't care. Lots more important things to think about that apparent lost opportunities.

There is a market for you. What I do is teach conversational English here. There are at least 30 different 'schools' in this town/city of just over 200,000. The market isn't that big, but most of us do ok even competing with 'schools' who have monthly advertising budgets greater than most of our yearly incomes. Whatever you do, if you do it well, you will have a market.

Be realistic. I always threaten to increase my fees, but I have not yet. Maybe next year. ;) I know that if I did increase them for extra income, that I would prolly still come out about the same. I would lose some students, which would offset any benefit of the fee increase. Again, this boils down to how good you are at what you do. If you can charge the big bucks and do well at it, then go for it. If not, don't sell yourself short because it's only going to cut your own throat.

Whatever comes in, make sure you cover the unavoidable expenses before anything else. Rent, utilities, etc. You have to have somewhere to work from and to live, and you gotta eat. With plenty of cash around (especially here) it's always tempting to buy whatever you want to. Do it when you know you can afford it, not when you have a fist full of cash.

When it comes to the tax department, don't try and be too smart for your own good. Sure, there are a lot of ways to dodge it, but get caught and you are going to be in a lot of trouble. Also, if you happen to make a killing and they think it suspicious, they will unleash the dogs. Plenty of guys I know here are hamstrung, simply because they hid it all at the start, and if they take on some things now, the tax office will start asking questions. I was honest from the start, and if I do well, I'll be safe. Only other guy I know who was honest from the get go here makes well into 6 figures, US dollars... Also helps here as my tax bill was just over $400 last year. :D

And lastly, don't be scared to ask questions when you don't know. If the questions cost a little cash to be answered, then so be it. There will be things that come up that you can't answer and you are going to have to find a solution. Be ready for it, rather than running around in circles flapping your arms.

Go for it.

And good luck. :)

[Auld Bassoon]

Schtoo,

Mate! it sounds as if you are doing it the hard way, but persevering anyway.

Good luck to you, and I really hope that it all comes good for you!

Cheers!

[dazzler]

hi all

Sorry I havent logged back in Ive been up at Cradle Mountain in the snow.

Thanks very much for all your input.....now its worse than ever cause I was expecting everyone to be negative;).

I am going to give it a go.

Age20boat, thats amazing that you had such a poor visit down here. I wasnt born here so have no real allegence to the place (the first of mums ancestors came to here in 1855) and your experience seems different to most. There is an underswell of bogans in some suburbs so you must have visited on Bogan Day. Need to cancel that one!. most people are really great, a bit like mainlanders twenty years ago.

I actually got hurt working in Canberra and am on a transfer down here for 2 years. I am not with Tasmania Police and have found Taspol to be pretty good but are probably not as compassionate as some forces out there). (okay a greeny for the first to work out who I work for!:) (for a little while yet))

So thanks everyone!

cheers

dazzler