If you knew then what you know now....

[becky]

Hi

I just joined the forum yesterday. I'm currently setting up a website selling gifts for new babies, which should be up and running in a couple of weeks (hopefully). I'm completely new to running a business, forums, everything.


I know I'm going to have lots of specific questions to ask people as I get up and running, but to tap into the wealth of experience that is out there I just wondered,.....

...is there one thing you wish you had known when you first started your business, or one thing you wish you had done differently/planned better?

:) Becky

[Jayne]

Yes, i'd have got an accountant sorted, before starting up. They can advise you on all sorts of businesses things, so you don't do anything wrong from the beginning :D

Jayne

[Jayne]

Oh and if you think of selling a business, don't sign an Estate Agents contract before a solicitor looks at it :D

Jayne

[Rob Holmes]

<<moved to general>>

Hmm - good question

Don't get me wrong - I would like to have succeeded the first time I bit the bullet - but I didn't. In fact I lost alot of money and time. But I learned alot from failing and what I learned soon put me in good stead for trying again, and again!

One key thing is to learn what to do with major and minor failures, how to improve and learn quickly so they don't happen again.

But I would have made some harsher decisions earlier on, got a decent accounts system in place quicker, and probably joined the forums here (except they didn't exist at the time!)

There are bags more lessons I have learnt over time..

Rob

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Best thing to do is learn from other people mistakes as it costs less! I have made loads in the past but I wouldn't go back and change a thing.

I believe that we are the sum totally of all our experiences and that failure is just a form of feedback.

Matt

[Coding Monkey]

I would have invested more money into someone taking care of my marketing and sales. In fact, I wouldn't have bothered with any other costs until I had some work, then I could hire a lawyer and accountant to take care of matters. I had a large number of people contact me, but turning them into sales was my initial problem. Glad I sorted that one out

[creacom]

As my business partner and I have both worked in design, marketing and sales we were prepared for that bit. As for the financial part that took us ages to get our heads around ! The accounts and VAT used to make my head spin !

Now after a short course and a lot of reading we have it pretty much under control.

I would have prefered to have been better read up on that when we started.

Jacqui :D

[becky]

Best thing to do is learn from other people mistakes as it costs less!
Matt

That's the plan!! But no, you're right - mistakes are a great way of learning and improving. :)

[Cornish Steve]

I would like to have succeeded the first time I bit the bullet - but I didn't. In fact I lost alot of money and time. But I learned alot from failing and what I learned soon put me in good stead for trying again, and again!

One key thing is to learn what to do with major and minor failures, how to improve and learn quickly so they don't happen again.
I agree completely. We've pursued avenues that turned out to be dead ends, but there was no way to know this ahead of time.

If I would do one thing differently, it would be to listen more carefully and to respond more quickly to the market. While it's important to have a strong focus and not to be distracted, it's also important to be sure you're meeting customers' read needs - and that might call for change.

[Shelley]

My biggest thing running a business would have been to get a good solicitor to start with. In the long run, mistakes from this have cost me more money.But a V good learning curve