- Original Poster
- #1
Hi
So I have just signed up and have never been on a business "forum" before or really talked about my so called "business" but this year has had me thinking and as I'm fed up of getting harassed by people trying to sell me some advertising, re-doing my website or those that want to franchise me at the lowest cost possible as well as the fact that I am still an employee somewhere else... So you guys have my interest and I am interested to see whether it's viable or not.
Technically, as far as the tax man is concerned I am employed as PAYE, a fully paid up member of the 9-5 club helping to buy a new car for my governor... As WELL as this, I am also a Sole Trading milk shed for HM Inland Revenue, and over the past two years I have had to sit down and calculate every last penny to make sure that I've cut each one in half and given it away.
My business was never intentional, it was a hobby... I like "doing things" and get bored easily, so I thought I'd offer my services out to my local neighbourhood - Didn't really know where to start, so I bought a domain, coded a site and flicked the go live button.... After about 6 months without a booking I was about to give up and then I got an email telling me I had a booking.... The wife laughed her head off as she thought I had given up with the insane idea... Well, it turned out that first booking enlightened me to put a few Ads online and within the next 6 months I'd got quite busy of an evening.
That was 2 years ago and I no longer advertise, yet every evening I have a booking and every weekend I am booked from 8 in the morning to 6-7 o'clock at night, even on a Sunday. With bookings as far in advance as 4 weeks at any one time... Bank holidays are being used to cram extra people in and yes, it is turning a profit, in fact it's never had a loss since that first booking. I even have to get friends to help me out on a regular basis and it has started to become a bit of a beast, every day responding to queries, following up, ordering materials, sorting accounts and on top of that, do my normal job and spend time with the family.
We have always rented our home, our kids came along and mortgages seemed like such a bore... We moved house several times because of the flexibility with renting and the past 2 years of additional income has effectively allowed us to save for a deposit and we got our mortgage approved and are moving to our own home... All things are dandy - Apart from The Business... It's like I am trapped, my phone will ring 2 or 3 times a day with a new enquiry, great, but I can only do one extra job a day through my service because otherwise I would never get home... Sometimes I'm doing two in an evening if I feel sorry for the client or know that I am giving "potential" booking dates of the next month and now, the next year (It's end of November for those post reading this).
I always said that when we get our own home, I'd slow down and go self-employed. Well, we are about to exchange contracts for our own home and thus, I am now looking for some advice here.... I will do some reading to see what you guys and gals have already disclosed (Is drop-shipping really a current business model? I thought that died years ago... Shows what I know) and hopefully I can make some contacts here who have done this journey and succeeded without getting an eviction notice and get some guidance on where to go next.
Thanks for reading and hope to chat soon....
So I have just signed up and have never been on a business "forum" before or really talked about my so called "business" but this year has had me thinking and as I'm fed up of getting harassed by people trying to sell me some advertising, re-doing my website or those that want to franchise me at the lowest cost possible as well as the fact that I am still an employee somewhere else... So you guys have my interest and I am interested to see whether it's viable or not.
Technically, as far as the tax man is concerned I am employed as PAYE, a fully paid up member of the 9-5 club helping to buy a new car for my governor... As WELL as this, I am also a Sole Trading milk shed for HM Inland Revenue, and over the past two years I have had to sit down and calculate every last penny to make sure that I've cut each one in half and given it away.
My business was never intentional, it was a hobby... I like "doing things" and get bored easily, so I thought I'd offer my services out to my local neighbourhood - Didn't really know where to start, so I bought a domain, coded a site and flicked the go live button.... After about 6 months without a booking I was about to give up and then I got an email telling me I had a booking.... The wife laughed her head off as she thought I had given up with the insane idea... Well, it turned out that first booking enlightened me to put a few Ads online and within the next 6 months I'd got quite busy of an evening.
That was 2 years ago and I no longer advertise, yet every evening I have a booking and every weekend I am booked from 8 in the morning to 6-7 o'clock at night, even on a Sunday. With bookings as far in advance as 4 weeks at any one time... Bank holidays are being used to cram extra people in and yes, it is turning a profit, in fact it's never had a loss since that first booking. I even have to get friends to help me out on a regular basis and it has started to become a bit of a beast, every day responding to queries, following up, ordering materials, sorting accounts and on top of that, do my normal job and spend time with the family.
We have always rented our home, our kids came along and mortgages seemed like such a bore... We moved house several times because of the flexibility with renting and the past 2 years of additional income has effectively allowed us to save for a deposit and we got our mortgage approved and are moving to our own home... All things are dandy - Apart from The Business... It's like I am trapped, my phone will ring 2 or 3 times a day with a new enquiry, great, but I can only do one extra job a day through my service because otherwise I would never get home... Sometimes I'm doing two in an evening if I feel sorry for the client or know that I am giving "potential" booking dates of the next month and now, the next year (It's end of November for those post reading this).
I always said that when we get our own home, I'd slow down and go self-employed. Well, we are about to exchange contracts for our own home and thus, I am now looking for some advice here.... I will do some reading to see what you guys and gals have already disclosed (Is drop-shipping really a current business model? I thought that died years ago... Shows what I know) and hopefully I can make some contacts here who have done this journey and succeeded without getting an eviction notice and get some guidance on where to go next.
Thanks for reading and hope to chat soon....
But that could be my personal opinion. Likewise when they do things wrong (That human thing again), I do make a point of going out and sorting it myself.
