New member

[Mr Warwick]

Good afternoon ,
I have taken the next 3 days off work to persue my objective of owning and running my own business. I happened upon this site and thought it would be a good idea to join for feedback from people who have already gone through this exercise.
Although I have a particular business in mind that is suited to my organisational skills - I am now about to pick up the phone to call about raising finance ( this is a bit tricky for me as being somewhat deaf - I find it pretty difficult to lip read on the telephone :shock: - but needs must).
Any advice anyone can give on starting the process of identifying-financing and buying a business would be gratefully received.

kind regards
D

[Alpha]

Hi Mr Warwick from Worcestershire :)

And welcome to the forums. i hope they provide you with a useful source of information and networking.

Well before you pick up the telephone to try sorting out finance it would be worth making sure that you have a good well witten and thought out business plan so that prospective lenders can see that you are serious about your proposition and have put plenty of research into it.

[Jayne]

Hi D,

Welcome to the forum :D

What sort if biz are you hoping to do?

Jayne

[mumper]

Hi D,

Welcome to the forums - all the best with starting your new business.

[Arial]

Hi D,


Welcome to the forum :)

Best of luck with the new business!

Arial

[Mr Warwick]

Thank you all for your welcome- :o

The target business is a well established , if slightly underperforming upholstery firm. I have several ideas/areas that I would wish to persue to increase sales turnover ( not least of which is web presence and diversity of products) and couple that with my skills in maximising efficency and man management.
I wanted to avoid the higher costs of a start up and fine tune an existing business.
The route I have initially for funding is that of a "soft loan" - my first problem has arisen in that the goalposts have very recently been moved ( business' under five years only- which I read recently and was confirmed on the phone) - I am just about to call to find out how long the current owner has been trading - as although the firm was established in 1940's itis the recent owners time that is relevent.
The second is securing additional funding to that not covered by the scheme. I have one potential investor so far. this I would take as preferential shares - but intend to pay back any monies in the shortest possible time with a substantial % over by way of thanks ( unless they wanted to leave in and take yearly dividends.)
The aim is not to risk my house ( my main asset )if at all possible - but obviously if I'm not willing to risk then why should anyone else?. So I may have to take that route - I have faith in myself to do this business but why risk if it's not necessary. As far as a business plan is concerned - at this stage without the "full" facts & Figures ( due diligence stage not having been reached ) it is difficult - but I am right this moment in the process of researching the market & trends.
I would be very interested to hear how other people obtained their funding.
Apologies for the longish mail but I am new to this.
D

[easy]

Hi D

Welcome to the forum.

Good luck with the finances and definately risk as little as possible.