Small business advice
06-12-2004, 02:53 AM
#1
DEYTUKURJERBS
Thread Starter
Small business advice
I guess/know a lot of people on PF have/had small businesses so some advice please...
If you have a small business, would you prefer (from experience of this ideally) to do it on your own if at all possible, or with someone else (and share the costs
AND profit 
)?
Could mean double the cash imput, and potentially double the work you can get through, but it has to make double the profit surely to make it worthwhile...
Unless you doing exactly the same work i guess its hard to work out who gets what money too.
Unless you know you got double the work than you can handle then i guess the 2nd person is only of real use for their money, lol, and a bank loan or whatever is jus as good then surely?
I guess (unless your snowed under from the start) its better to start small, invest the money your making, and expand yourself, rather than share the business and start of bigger in the first place, as youd make more in the long run if you dont have a partner taking 50% of the profit...
To me, it seems you better on your own, esp as TBH the main reasoning for someone else is to have double the cash to spend, but if i was 100% i wouldnt ask would I, lol...
Any Advice/Experience welcome...
If you have a small business, would you prefer (from experience of this ideally) to do it on your own if at all possible, or with someone else (and share the costs
AND profit )?Could mean double the cash imput, and potentially double the work you can get through, but it has to make double the profit surely to make it worthwhile...
Unless you doing exactly the same work i guess its hard to work out who gets what money too.
Unless you know you got double the work than you can handle then i guess the 2nd person is only of real use for their money, lol, and a bank loan or whatever is jus as good then surely?
I guess (unless your snowed under from the start) its better to start small, invest the money your making, and expand yourself, rather than share the business and start of bigger in the first place, as youd make more in the long run if you dont have a partner taking 50% of the profit...
To me, it seems you better on your own, esp as TBH the main reasoning for someone else is to have double the cash to spend, but if i was 100% i wouldnt ask would I, lol...
Any Advice/Experience welcome...
06-12-2004, 07:08 AM
#3
10K+ Poster!!
Theres advantages/disadvantages in both been a sole trader and a partnership ......
Me and my m8 started up a car site, specialising in one marque of car in '99 and to begin with it was slow (the reputation from the previous guy who owned it was a bit hard to overcome) but never the less it started moving in the right direction. That well in fact we booked our first Christmas abroad on the millenium for a couple of weeks to somewhere nice and hot for me and the family
Had a great time and when we got back i'd found he'd sold the stock and just left bits of shit there and had fecked off. I went to his funeral 6 months later
This was from my best mate of 20 years. He had problems with a girl who just needed money spending on her all the time and then couldnt face up to his debts and his way that he got hold of money and couldn't pay it back
About a year or so later I started up another company doing Mobile Valeting and it took off quite well. I was worried about having to make some decsions to grow and made some good and some bad decsions along the way.
I closed it down earlier this year after deciding that It wasnt for me along with crippling insurance costs and demands and trying to find reliable staff was just a friggin nightmare.
Both times I funded them from my own pocket and wanted nothing from Banks, etc, etc
Working in a partnership is good if you both put in equal amounts, but if that doesnt happen in can lead to stubborness on the harder workers behalf and put in a few obstacles that needn't have to be there
If you know the business well enough, then you might be better off taking on board a worker who also knows the game and put them on a salary or profit related bonuses to ensure their always active and working well ....
Me and my m8 started up a car site, specialising in one marque of car in '99 and to begin with it was slow (the reputation from the previous guy who owned it was a bit hard to overcome) but never the less it started moving in the right direction. That well in fact we booked our first Christmas abroad on the millenium for a couple of weeks to somewhere nice and hot for me and the family
Had a great time and when we got back i'd found he'd sold the stock and just left bits of shit there and had fecked off. I went to his funeral 6 months later
This was from my best mate of 20 years. He had problems with a girl who just needed money spending on her all the time and then couldnt face up to his debts and his way that he got hold of money and couldn't pay it back About a year or so later I started up another company doing Mobile Valeting and it took off quite well. I was worried about having to make some decsions to grow and made some good and some bad decsions along the way.
I closed it down earlier this year after deciding that It wasnt for me along with crippling insurance costs and demands and trying to find reliable staff was just a friggin nightmare.
Both times I funded them from my own pocket and wanted nothing from Banks, etc, etc
Working in a partnership is good if you both put in equal amounts, but if that doesnt happen in can lead to stubborness on the harder workers behalf and put in a few obstacles that needn't have to be there
If you know the business well enough, then you might be better off taking on board a worker who also knows the game and put them on a salary or profit related bonuses to ensure their always active and working well ....
06-12-2004, 07:28 AM
#4
PassionFord Post Whore!!
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Sole trader all the way IMO. I have been involved in 2 business partnerships in the past both of which were moderately successful but with the ever powerful power of hindsight I wish I had gone solo on both occassions. Partnerships can spoil or even ruin friendships and the old adage "Friends and Money = Oil and Water" has a lot of truth in it. Being solo means that you know exactly whats what, something that goes out the window as soon as you have 2, and not having the doubts about who is steering the ship saves countless sleepless nights.
The best business advice I was ever given was to get a really good accountant, one that you can ask ANY question, who either knows tax law inside out or has access to a very experienced tax consultant. A good one will save you thousands.
Thats my 2 cents
Cam
The best business advice I was ever given was to get a really good accountant, one that you can ask ANY question, who either knows tax law inside out or has access to a very experienced tax consultant. A good one will save you thousands.
Thats my 2 cents
Cam
06-12-2004, 07:51 AM
#5
PassionFord Post Whore!!
On ya own mate, no question about it... In a partnership there will always be one side willing to put more in than the other, then it gets nasty.... It is fairly hard work getting started on your own, but deffo worth it... I've been trading a year now operating my signwriting company, and the benefits have just started reaping in. I put a fair few quid in to begin with, but all of that has now been taken out, all of the equipment has paid for itself, and have a nice healthy bit of stock, so hopefully now profits will start to come in.... Its only a part time business as well !(I work full time elsewhere)
Try it yourself Steve IMO....
Chris
Try it yourself Steve IMO....
Chris
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