Starting your own business.....

If you are only "slightly" interested in opening your own shop. Don't do it! If you have a product that you want to sell, know that there is a market for it, have identified a suitable location and can secure funding then write a business plan. Write one anyway. You can download templates from a variety of sources. Have a look at: www.businesslink.gov.uk They aren't appropriate for your part of the country, but the advice is pretty standard across the country. I always wanted to start a luxury bespoke travel guide service. I've started guiding now. Who knows, I may yet achieve something in that area. Good luck and think hard.

In my opinion The fundamentals for any business are placement, placement and placement. As long as you are propely located you can do wonders with even a small business. My dream is to own my own manufacturing industry and I am learning a lot about how to start and all that stuff. I am trying to increase my qualification(banks usually back inexperienced with high qualification than experience with low qualification). I set a target of 5 years to reach that goal

i would start my own business at a nice place, and do some promo, and now i have my own internet cafe, every month i must update the new tools for my user so they can feel comfortable.

First thing you need is a business plan, how much it's going to cost up front, how much it's going to cost in overhead, and how much sales you predict. The number one thing I would look for first is a good location. As they say, top 3 things in a successful business, location location location. Then I would do some homework, where is my nearest competitor located, do they offer the same products that I do? Is there a 'need' for the business, or is it just some passing fad. It's hard to get any backing for a business that is based on a passing fad, it won't last long. I would then look into suppliers for the products I would be carrying, how much is shipping going to cost, how much will the product cost and what kind of mark-up will I be able to have. I have owned my own business before, and I would love to do it again, as you can see I'm in the 'homework' stage of putting one together. good luck

Hello Cinderella. The first thing you have to do, in my opinion, is to identify what you want to sell or what line of services you plan to provide. That is very important, to pick the right line of business you want to start. It has to be a profitable business, right ?

I would advise you to check out the business link website and perhaps arrange a meeting. The first step would be to create a business plan, and work out how you would make a profit. You need to work out what you are selling, who your competitors are and what your unique selling point is. I would say getting a good business plan would make getting a loan really simple. You could even start off selling online to test the waters. Once you get a steady clientale you could open a shop. This would minimise the risk as your outgoings would be a lot less, and you could still keep working while getting your business up and running. Let me know if you need any help!

after considering what product to sell, the first and the only thing you have to consider first is "location,location,location" the first marketing rule because if without traffic, even if your product is so good if there are no possible buyers then it is useless to put up a business.

Hi Cinderella, I have never run a shop but have had my own business and have also worked as an Independent for larger companies but really can't advice too much on this one other than to go with your instinct and to go with something that you believe in and would enjoy selling, then you speak from the heart rather than just trying to sell something if that makes sense. In the economic climate as it is you could probably get a really good deal on a lease or if thinking more longterm perhaps buy a property freehold with a shop attached. My own father has a large for bedroom house with workshops at the back and an empty shop at the fron, if only I lived in that area I could do so much with it but he just leaves it empty, he lives alone too so in the future would no doubt sell for something smaller and more manageable and a bargain would be had by future owner to really do something with eh! Good luck with whatever you decide to do, but I would seek expert advice, decide what you want to sell, do plenty of research to source products you intend to sell and do a business plan with your bank to see whether it will al be a viable venture. Ellie :D

My hubby and I have toyed with the idea of starting our own shop millions of times, the trouble with us is we have so many good ideas and then never do anything about them. We are lazy in that sense, we dont put the work in to achieve what we want. We have talked about having a shop in Scarborough before now, it is a place we have holidayed at a few times and we fell in love with it. We saw an empty shop on our last visit, right slap bang in the seaside town and it was a lovely shop and we talked about it for ages. But that was about it, I am not a risk taker so really we fail before we start!

if i would be having a business, it would be something that i like. i love clothes and stuff, so if i would have some money to start a business, it would be a small boutique. in that way, i can handle this business well and enjoy at the same time. another business that i like to venture into if i just have the money is food business. it could be franchising a popular fastfood chain or put up a restaurant of my own. in both cases, i would check out first a good place where i would put up the store. the store should be near my market target. maybe near schools/universities or at downtown area were traffic is heavy.

I face the same problem. I decieded to set the website to sell accessory of car. I will use the B2C mode. Now,the website is ready, I can begin bussiness operation. But in these days,I face the difficulty. I find the goods providers,but they refused to accept my operation mode. So,I can't start my business.

First i will look for nice location and also ask for the price if it is afordable.Then I will look for someone will be with us cause i think i cannot run some business alone.You need somebody who can tell you or do what is the good for the business..I would like to have a business partner.I would like to open a restaurant because i am always thinking that people will always need to eat somewhere.I think running a business is not easy you need to think first before doing that.