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Starting small business - advice?
Mr_Grinch
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I am after advice, and being this is the Help / Advice forum I figured this was the best place to come! Keep in mind I'm UK based.
I'll try to keep this brief but I have a habit of rambling. I work full time for the Government, that's a 9 to 5 job, Monday to Friday. However I'm pretty good with the 'ole Computer Repair and have recently started it up as a business. I go to people's houses, or they drop off the machine to me and I fix them, cheap. I'd like to clarify that I have no intention of this becoming my main form of employment, it's purely an evening and weekend thing. Those times suit me and they seem to suit my customers too. I want my business to be reasonably professional but not at the expense of losing the friendliness that keeps people coming back.
That's partly why I have some climbing bits and bobs on my website (which strangely have got me business).
Now I need some advice on:
a) Advertising
b) Account keeping
Advertising
Word Of Mouth is pretty much what I've been relying on. In the last 6 months I've moved in to a new area and don't know anyone here, so it's been tough going. I also post out leaflets, two different styles. One is cheaper for me to reproduce, it's a half A4 page advertising my services. The other is a leaflet with advice on some of the more simple aspects of Computer Repair (checking the Windows Firewall is on, Free Anti Virus recommendations). This is more costly to produce as it's one double sided A4 sheet. Both appear to have been getting me some business.
I've also paid £114 to advertise in a local popular leaflet (www.whatsonmagazine.net). My advert is 6.5cm x 6.5cm and will be in for 3 months. The next issue gets published at the start of July so I'm hoping to see some business from that.
And to add to that I've popped a business card or two in to the local supermarkets, who have noticeboards.
Then finally there's the Internet. I have a website set up (www.notthateasypeople.com <- I don't think there's any harm in mentioning it here but if the mods want me to remove it I will.) and I've signed up to countless other sites to advertise it (Yellow Pages, Thomson Local, etc). The website has details of each computer I've repaired and how much I charge, I always ask permission from the customer before doing this.
Is there anything I'm missing? Any decent trick to get word out about my business? Is it just a case of hoping it grows from here? I tried the local paper but they were going to charge me £1600 for 6 weeks, whilst I understand you need to spend money to make money, that's far too much for me.
Accounts
I keep accurate records of all the money I make and of all my expenses (except mileage at the moment). Can anyone recommend any decent accounting software, preferably for OS X and UK based? I'm using Excel right now which is working fine but I'd prefer something a little more tailored. At present I'm running the business through my own Current Account, I've opened two separate Internet Saver accounts. One of these for profit, one for Tax and National Insurance. All transactions have been cash up to now, so I take the cash in to the bank, deposit it in to my current account then move 70% in to the Profit saver account and 30% in to the Tax/NIC.
Would I be better off with a business account? They seem to charge for these and being I'm not a limited company there's not a legal requirement. However my bank does offer a free one for the first 18 months of your business.
Any suggestions on how I should be handling my money or how to go about receipts? At the moment I don't dish out any receipts (though I keep all the ones from any parts purchased).
Because of my fairly low prices and limited time I don't expect to see the business turnover any more than £2500. I'm doing it for some extra cash, to provide a cheap service and because I enjoy it.
Any other general advice on running a business?
;TLDR; I am running a small business, evenings and weekends and would like some advice on how to do this properly. Go!
::edit:: No replies yet but plenty of views to my site, thank you for making me feel popular folks
now tell me how to do better business!
I'll try to keep this brief but I have a habit of rambling. I work full time for the Government, that's a 9 to 5 job, Monday to Friday. However I'm pretty good with the 'ole Computer Repair and have recently started it up as a business. I go to people's houses, or they drop off the machine to me and I fix them, cheap. I'd like to clarify that I have no intention of this becoming my main form of employment, it's purely an evening and weekend thing. Those times suit me and they seem to suit my customers too. I want my business to be reasonably professional but not at the expense of losing the friendliness that keeps people coming back.
That's partly why I have some climbing bits and bobs on my website (which strangely have got me business).
Now I need some advice on:
a) Advertising
b) Account keeping
Advertising
Word Of Mouth is pretty much what I've been relying on. In the last 6 months I've moved in to a new area and don't know anyone here, so it's been tough going. I also post out leaflets, two different styles. One is cheaper for me to reproduce, it's a half A4 page advertising my services. The other is a leaflet with advice on some of the more simple aspects of Computer Repair (checking the Windows Firewall is on, Free Anti Virus recommendations). This is more costly to produce as it's one double sided A4 sheet. Both appear to have been getting me some business.
I've also paid £114 to advertise in a local popular leaflet (www.whatsonmagazine.net). My advert is 6.5cm x 6.5cm and will be in for 3 months. The next issue gets published at the start of July so I'm hoping to see some business from that.
And to add to that I've popped a business card or two in to the local supermarkets, who have noticeboards.
Then finally there's the Internet. I have a website set up (www.notthateasypeople.com <- I don't think there's any harm in mentioning it here but if the mods want me to remove it I will.) and I've signed up to countless other sites to advertise it (Yellow Pages, Thomson Local, etc). The website has details of each computer I've repaired and how much I charge, I always ask permission from the customer before doing this.
Is there anything I'm missing? Any decent trick to get word out about my business? Is it just a case of hoping it grows from here? I tried the local paper but they were going to charge me £1600 for 6 weeks, whilst I understand you need to spend money to make money, that's far too much for me.
Accounts
I keep accurate records of all the money I make and of all my expenses (except mileage at the moment). Can anyone recommend any decent accounting software, preferably for OS X and UK based? I'm using Excel right now which is working fine but I'd prefer something a little more tailored. At present I'm running the business through my own Current Account, I've opened two separate Internet Saver accounts. One of these for profit, one for Tax and National Insurance. All transactions have been cash up to now, so I take the cash in to the bank, deposit it in to my current account then move 70% in to the Profit saver account and 30% in to the Tax/NIC.
Would I be better off with a business account? They seem to charge for these and being I'm not a limited company there's not a legal requirement. However my bank does offer a free one for the first 18 months of your business.
Any suggestions on how I should be handling my money or how to go about receipts? At the moment I don't dish out any receipts (though I keep all the ones from any parts purchased).
Because of my fairly low prices and limited time I don't expect to see the business turnover any more than £2500. I'm doing it for some extra cash, to provide a cheap service and because I enjoy it.
Any other general advice on running a business?
;TLDR; I am running a small business, evenings and weekends and would like some advice on how to do this properly. Go!
::edit:: No replies yet but plenty of views to my site, thank you for making me feel popular folks
now tell me how to do better business! Mr_Grinch on
0
Posts
1) I'm not sure what the rules for doing so are in the UK, but if the business starts to really get going, I would recommend incorporating it. If you're starting to go through some serious cash, separating your business from your personal accounts will reduce your personal liability if something goes wrong.
2) If you think that might be a possibility down the line, you should might consider a separate bank account that handles all the money for the business. If your business is incorporated and you are depositing money made from the business into your personal bank account it's called "comingling funds" and can cause problems down the line from a tax/liability perspective. In France, opening bank accounts was a royal pain in the ass, I remember (it's very easy in the US). If it's difficult in the UK it might not be worth the effort if you never plan to grow the business.
3) Quickbooks is pretty much the standard for small business accounting software. There's a UK edition. I would strongly recommend getting something like this going, it will make your life much easier.
4) I would also recommend starting to issue invoices with your fulfilled orders. IIRC, you can attach these to your accounts in quickbooks, so it makes it easy to track and you have a paper trail. There are probably hundreds of templates out there for business invoices, just grab one off the net or use a built in one with your office software.
I started my own business 4 years ago and I've learnt a few things the hard way, im also based in the UK and in the same kind of field, so hopefully its all usful to you.
Accounts. I do all my own taxes and returns, im also VAT registered (which prob wont apply to you)
1) If your doing it proper legal (i.e. not cash in hand), you need to register as self employeed. This basically means you need to declare that you are earning money other then from your job. This also means you need to fill out the self assessment form every year (bloody thing!).
2) You dont have to be VAT registered on a small scale but keep in mind if you expand out of the people you know and in the local area market other companies like you to be for obvious reasons of claiming VAT back.
3) Give customers invoices for EVERYTHING they pay you. They give you a £20 deposit, invoice. They pay for a new graphics card, invoice. Of course if they pay the whole thing at once one will do just keep records for everything.
4) All records must be kept for 3 (4?) years even if you stop trading.
Ive not done much advertising but I did find that leaflet drops are very poor in cost to new custom ratio. The best form was word of mouth and putting a stick of your details on the back/underneath of electrical equipment you fix. Also business cards to good customers to put in your wallet/stick on the fridge/pass around. Basically fliers get thrown away.
Its all that ive got on the top of my head, got any specific questions PM or thow them up here. FYI I work in repairing all electronics equipment from radios/TVs/PC/Consoles.
Edit:
I read your post a bit more carfully and you are doing a lot of things right. As for software honestly I just made my own spread sheet in Excel and my business turns in waaaay more then 2500. But if something a bit more "professional" is what your after just make sure you can try it out first. I also dont use a business account (just a current like you), while I've had some heated convos with the bank about this there is nothing they can do about it really. I did try it (18month thing) and honestly its more of a pain then a bonus as it adds more layers of red tape.
For example when I had a business account and wanted a loan because I had a business account i had to speak to the business adviser, I couldnt just pop into any branch and ask for a personal loan. So basically avoid.
http://blog.asmartbear.com/
He talks a lot about marketing and advertising, so it would probably be useful for you even though you aren't as hardcore about this as his general audience.
Prime - That's really interesting about your business account, just after posting this yesterday I opened one up with TSB (or set it in motion). I may close it soon and just carry on using my current as originally planned. The amount of cash coming in isn't hard to monitor.
PSN: SirGrinchX
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