Babel started this topic @ 20:12 on 08/09/2004
Okay, I had a Business Link Interview today, the guy was straight forward enough, told me that a Bank wouldn't give me a loan if they knew I was on benefits & there aren't any grants/loans in this area to help. he'd not heard of 'permited work' - self employment scheme for 'long term sick' I'm doing & couldn't understand that I was both self-employed & taxed directly through the DSS rather than the Inland Rev.)
I've got the websites up, complete with products for sale, and a 'semi professional' shopping cart solution (that will do for now) I've got the domain names I need, I have products I can resell, Affiliate, Dropship & buy Wholesale. I've got an e-bay shop, a logo & I know 'roughly' where the business will be in a years time - if I get a 20K loan.
If I remain on benefit & earn the extra £20 per week - my business will be stable, but slow, as it's growing by itself through affiliates below me - and although my sales are sparse, I learn something useful from each one.
My problem is that I really want to get off benefits ASAP, the credit cards, aren't going to last forever & I could do with an action plan or some suggestions to kick start the business - get an advertising campaign & brand awareness happening.
My Business Link man says I'm focusing on too many things & I need to settle on one plan, one project (I only mentioned the webhosting biz & the ebay shop, no mention of affiliate programs/USA at all - yet!)
How do others that have 'multiple income steams' explain 'the way it is' to the people they want to understand ?
Should I just carry on as I and & hope for the best ? (i.e that some people actually buy some stuff I'm selling - and then I can say 'told you so')
I suppose, I'm slightly disappointed that after receiving the 'snazzy' cdrom from business link - highlighting their awareness of new technology etc. that I left the interview feeling like failed to convince a 'Business local' that - the information I was telling him, as a business person would not be presented to a consumer in the same way - I showed him copies of basic legal agreements, such as privacy policy & terms of sale for one of my sites, examples of wholesalers & dropship merchants I use) He said there was basically no way I could get products & services so cheap & the rest of the time was taken up with explaining that banner advertising is there because some people click on it & buy stuff & the advertiser had to pay to be there so companies sell at a higher price to cover costs....gawd.
I don't own the server that I lease to others on behalf of 'Company A' -for example - it's white labelled, my business chap says, well that's cheating, I wouldn't want it from you as I'd be buying it from company A so I'd expect the service from them, I explain that as a retail customer you wouldn't generally be told who the suppliers to your suppliers were, if you were a curious customer or business that asked if I was a reseller I'd tell them I was.
I want to be able to effectively explain that this type of business model is quite normal on-line & not sound like I'm making it up or it's illegal. (I don't want to have to get a degree to proove it either !)
long post - thanks if you read this far
RE: Post Business Link: What next ?
James Smith | 09/09/2004 09:05 AM
Unfortunately you get what you pay for – it s a free service and some of the advisors are great, some rubbish. I went along to a meeting when I first started up and it was an absolute joke, I spoke to someone who had spent their working life in a large bank, been in the job about 3 months and never had run their own business. Although saying that I have used their meeting rooms a few times so not all time wasted. Its certainly a plus (re your earlier posts), that that you actually went to the meeting, so if nothing else that has got to be a step forward.
Fundamentally its up to you to make the business work. What the chap said about multiple business streams does make sense to me - if your attention is flitting between half a dozen different products it is hard to make anything of each one, I guess it depends how busy you are ie if you are doing this because you can or by trying to do lots of things at once you are doing nothing properly. Most new business take all their owners time launching just the once stream, let alone several.
Given you main issue seems to be capital (or the lack of) I guess the only thing you can do is get your head down and try to earn some cash. You obviously can’t borrow where you have none yourself so it will have to be organic. I personally would look to off line sales channels if you have some stocks and have time on your hands. Enough leg work presenting products at a reasonable price can pay off, hard work but might be required to get the initial money together to invest.
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01235 536 773
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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT
RE: RE: Post Business Link: What next ?
Ian J | 09/09/2004 05:15 PM
[quote]I went along to a meeting when I first started up and it was an absolute joke, I spoke to someone who had spent their working life in a large bank, been in the job about 3 months and never had run their own business.[/quote]
I have spent much of my working life in commercial finance but have also run my own (and other peoples) companies in manufacturing, engineering, catering and retail.
Twice I have applied for a job as a Business Advisor (Finance) with a Business Link but on neither occasion did I even get an interview.
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Ian
Factoring ,
Invoice Discounting ,
Trade Finance and
Asset Finance specialist broker.
Founder member of
Independent Factoring Brokers Association
RE: RE: Post Business Link: What next ?
Babel | 10/09/2004 04:28 AM
Hi thanks for the replies - I've had time to mull things over, I'm alright now - bit of an on-line 'tantrum' from me there..... I might concentrate on some off-line advertsing & promotion, leafleting & walking about in the fresh air abit is called for I think.
Things aren't as dire as I imagine - there are worse things going on in the world than the fact I'm short of a few quid - I appreciate the cilvil responses
RE: Post Business Link: What next ?
Mattd | 09/09/2004 11:12 AM
I can sympathise with you on these business link giys, funny enough my advisor was an ex-bank manager as well and although he was a nice guy, it was like a GCSE business studies lesson listening to him.
I will agree with James that if you do have your attention distracted by too many streams at once then it can be detrimental to all of your streams, however some people can handle it well. (Obviously your business link adviser doesn't think that your one of these people.)
If he doesn't understand your way of working and your business model, there is nothing to say that your bank manager won't. If you really need the cash then you could always approach a bank anyway, whats the worst that they can say? No? Then your in exactly the same position that you were before. Maybe I am being a bit too much of an optimist for you but even if you are refused at least you can ask the actual bank manager why you were and get it from the horses mouth.
Otherwise I guess that you may have to put your head down and carry on till you've got the cash. Good luck anyway.
MattD
