Business idea advice

[Taylormade01]

Hi, I have worked in business banking for 8 years advising business start-ups how to set up, assisting with business plans to assess viability etc, however I am about to be made redundant and after working in the banking industry and having a 1st class business degree i don't want to work for anyone else, however i do want a steady income.
I am seeking advice/ opinions on what to do, I could set up as a business consultant advising how to start up any business, as i have already successfully assisted over 500+ start ups and I could also offer business development support ranging from Marketing, HR, Social Media etc (Problem is i have too much to offer maybe).

My initial thought was selling online 'step by step guides' to start up particular businesses i.e. a coffee shop, beauty salon, restaurant, recruitment business etc as i do know the in's and out's of setting up many businesses.

My question is do you think it is a good idea? As although there are business planning support, some people just want to know exactly what to do and this would be sort of buying a business in a box step by step guide.

If you was in the position of thinking about starting up your own business would you pay for such specific step by step guides if you wanted to fast track and quickly know how to set up say your dream coffee shop?

As added value I would also offer online tutoring specific to the business the potential customer decided to investigate on how to go about setting up covering legalities etc....

I appreciate your feedback. Many thanks....

 

[Chris Ashdown]

At first glance it looks a goer but probably slow to earn any money,

Would you be able say to work with the "XXX for Dummies" or another good book "The small business Guide" That way you get the books quickly out to the shops like W H Smiths

 

[billmccallum1957]

Try googling small business advice or small business guides, there are thousands of them, most of which are useless, as nearly all businesses are different and have a unique set of circumstances; personnel, location & budget, there is no one guide fits all.

But what you do have is an insight into the banking world and (one would assume) a network of contacts in the industry.

It would probably be far more lucrative to utilise your contacts to connect them to businesses who need funds.

 

[HighProxies]

If people really want their own business but are not really sure where to turn to, this might be a hit for you.

 

[Clinton]

I second what @billmccallum1957 says.

I'm not a great fan of startups. (It's probably heresy to say that. There's maybe even a law somewhere banning "startup intolerance"!)

But I ain't no fan.

There was a time I used to buy businesses ...and startups were the bane of my life. Every bright-eyed, bushy tailed "entrepreneur" thinks he's got something fantastic and everybody should be queueing up to invest millions his pre-revenue dumbass (99.99% of the time) pile of junk. These "entrepreneurs" caused so much noise in the market that I had to develop a tool specifically to filter them out of the shortlists we used to create of potential opportunities to examine.

Later I moved to consultancy and now provide various M&A services. And startups are still a pain in the ass - they have no money to pay any consultation fees for exit planning or anything else but want free services or want to pay in equity! "When we sell we'll pay you a million". Yeah, right. "When we IPO you'll make millions". Yeah, double right.

I don't deal with that nonsense. I'm not a VC.

This country needs more people to start businesses. Absolutely. I support that and I help out by giving some free advice (by talking about entrepreneurship at schools etc).

But if your goal is making money from your knowledge ... get the hell out of startups and work with proven businesses that have the budget to pay for quality advice.

 

[vibrantcolour]

I'm not a great fan of startups. (It's probably heresy to say that. There's maybe even a law somewhere banning "startup intolerance"!)

It does seem difficult to distinguish between new trendy 'startups' doing things with lots of VC money and 'start ups' which are new small businesses slogging away...

 

[silvermusic]

Would I pay for business advice from someone at a bank who's never actually run their own business? No. That's exactly why I got up and walked out of my banks business advisors office about 12 years ago and have never set foot in a branch since. Totally useless advice from clueless people with no real world experience. I pity any poor sod who actually took any of their advice. Thankfully I had many years retail experience to fall back on, and worked things out for myself.

One classic piece of their advice I still laugh at today was to have flyers printed to put in the local free newspaper to advertise my web site. Have they never heard of Google and adwords.

Oh yeah and take a loan how much do you want, we'll secure it against your house, doesn't matter how dumb the idea is, the dumber the better and when it fails we can't lose. You can have £10k today sign here..... not a flaming chance.

 

[Clinton]

I get what @silvermusic is saying.

There's a certain irony here. You claim to be a startup expert.

My question is do you think it is a good (startup) idea?

Why don't you tell us?

If you was in the position of thinking about starting up your own business would you pay for such specific step by step guides if you wanted to fast track and quickly know how to set up say your dream coffee shop?

You've spent 8 years dealing with startups. You should know them pretty well. Would they have paid?

"If you was..."? Really?!

 

[beasty]

The service might be useful, but it requires you to reach an audience with spare cash and an appreciation that this service might be useful, that is 3 problems rolled into 1.

1. How do you reach your audience
2. They do not have free cash
3. They do not appreciate what help they need until later when they realise the value of what you offer at which point it is too late.

You need to find an efficient way to connect with lots of well funded start ups..
I would perhaps target crowdfunded companies, they may be your market

 

[Carl "Excel-Expert" Nixon]

I think you have a few options here.

The idea of selling ready made guides is going to be hard work as I suspect your expertise only covers the UK and would not be applicable to other countries. So your market is already limited. Dont forget these guides tend to only sell for a few quid at a time, especially from an unknown.

My guess is there is far more mileage in acting as some kind of consultant (poacher turned gamekeeper type thing). I've seen a few people do this and make a fair from it. Going back to your content building I would give that away as free PDFs to get start ups to sign up to a newsletter and then sell your services as a consultant. It should make for a fairly natural sales funnel

 

[Rockpapercopy_biz]

Your strength is the fact that you have already been advising start ups face to face. Why not launch personal coaching business? Internet is flooded with free resources, and startups are always on a shoe string, so I do not recommend setting up online business consultancy for start ups. Go off-line and either start networking and local FSB and other networking events and make connections this way. Give talks at these events to introduce your business - people will love the financial tips from actual bank adviser. Good luck

 

[Clinton]

You've got experience in the theory - the type of business theory that impresses banks. If you want to work with startups the most obvious use of your "assets" is to advise startups on raising bank finance. If you take as your fees a percentage of any finance raised you are not limited by startups' lack of money but only by your ability to help them raise finance. Why isn't this the best option for you?

 

[The Byre]

On reading the OP, I soon realised two things -

1. That this is a 'solution' that is looking desperately for a problem to solve!

2. That, despite having worked with start-ups for eight years, the OP still has not worked out what makes for a good start-up and how to apply that knowledge to his own start-up!

The OP had an idea. The trouble with his idea, is that there are already abundant sources of information and advice for those wishing to launch a new business. Books, videos, websites and various governmental and private schemes are falling over themselves to give advice to start-ups.

My advice - DON'T HAVE IDEAS, BUT IDENTIFY NEEDS!

I attended the launch of a music school run by one girl who used to be a full time music teacher. At her information evening, 65 people signed up to pay a set amount every month. She has not even managed to get the doors open and already she has to find employees to cover demand!

As a music teacher, she became aware of a pressing need for more and better music tuition for both children and adults. She has a website and she has a sicker on her car - that's all the advertising she needs and still people call and want to sign up for courses.

It is the identification of a built-up need that gives you a business.

Back in the late 80s, someone called me up to ask if I could write the occasional article about some technical subjects, covering Germany. I first wrote one article a month and soon other trade magazines from within that publishing house began to call and ask for more articles. Some required knowledge outside of my field, so I began recruiting writers to deal with other subjects. Within a couple of years, we were covering hydraulics, mobile phones, aeronautics, TV programme rights, film distribution, pianos, you name it and we had someone beavering away, churning out news texts for UK and US magazines.

By the late 90s, we were profitable members of Reuters' networks and had just about every major media outlet in trade news covered. There was a burning need for tech news from central Europe.

I didn't go looking for that need - the need had to come to me and bite me hard on the arse, before I even knew it was there! I was not clever or wise: I was just lucky and bright enough to exploit and fulfil that need when it came banging on my door.

If you are banging on their doors, you don't have a business.

If they are banging on your door, you have a business!

This need developed into providing market research papers into those industries that the big boys did not want to cover. Frost and Sullivan would cover mobile phones and cars, but we did the quirky stuff like TV post production equipment and user-dedicated digital compression algorithms for non-standard displays.

As @Clinton states above - established industries need market information and they (unlike start-ups) actually have the money to pay for it!

Every bright-eyed, bushy tailed "entrepreneur" thinks he's got something fantastic and everybody should be queueing up to invest millions his pre-revenue dumbass (99.99% of the time) pile of junk.
SNIP
they have no money to pay any consultation fees for exit planning or anything else but want free services or want to pay in equity! "When we sell we'll pay you a million". Yeah, right. "When we IPO you'll make millions". Yeah, double right.

Seldom do we get the problem of deluded hopefuls looking for hand-outs described so eloquently!

Or as a producer friend of mine once said (after someone asked if it was OK to pay him in a few weeks time) -

"I can lose all sympathy for a man, when I discover that he has no money!"

 

[Krystsina]

If you was in the position of thinking about starting up your own business would you pay for such specific step by step guides if you wanted to fast track and quickly know how to set up say your dream coffee shop?

Hi there,
me and my fiancee opened a restaurant half a year ago. It was a very difficult process as we were new to such things (but we had some knowledge how we should do it). So based on my own experience, I would definitely say that it is quite a good idea of yours, and I would pay some money to buy a guide on how to open up a restaurant step by step.

 

[silvermusic]

Hi there,
me and my fiancee opened a restaurant half a year ago. It was a very difficult process as we were new to such things (but we had some knowledge how we should do it). So based on my own experience, I would definitely say that it is quite a good idea of yours, and I would pay some money to buy a guide on how to open up a restaurant step by step.

I think some people are missing a vital point. Bank employees are there to make the bank as much money as possible, that's all they're interested in. Quite frankly at the start of my business my accountant gave me far more sound advice than the bank ever did, come to that other friends in business who I've met over the years were always the best source for anything you wanted to know, they'd been there done that, made the mistakes. In turn i can now pass on good info to the next generation too of what i've learned.

My thought has always been this, if bank employees are so good at helping small businesses why are they still working for a bank. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to work that one out. They have no real world practical skills of how to actually run a business of any sort on a day to day basis.

Making someone in the role redundant speaks volume too of how times are changing, banks won't lend money unless it's backed up with something solid like getting their hands on your house.

 

[Krystsina]

My thought has always been this, if bank employees are so good at helping small businesses why are they still working for a bank. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to work that one out. They have no real world practical skills of how to actually run a business of any sort on a day to day basis.

Hi silvermusic,

thanks for your reply and advice! However, I wasn't really able to find much connection between your comment and my words on my own experience as I was talking more about the usage of a step-by-step guide, but not about bank consultants.

Despite this fact, I partly agree that banks consultants might not have real life business experience, but I believe that if a business consultant was helping small businesses to start previously, he/she should have an idea about all legal/paperwork processes on that. And it is such kind of knowledge that might be very useful for young entrepreneur to get.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

@Krystsina

I think what Silver is saying makes a lot of sense, and is relevant to what you've previously posted.

A bank employee can't give you business advise on opening a restaurant the only advise they can really give you is budgeting to make the restaurant work - pretty much the same as an accountant to be honest.

The OP may well have been able to aid 500+ successful companies in X amount of years, but really... how many unsuccessful companies are there?

As The Byre as stated, there's plenty of information out there - waiting for people to use - to utilize and make the information work for them in their own business... so why would there be a need to go to an ex banker?

To the OP

Being a business consultant, which is pretty much what you're referring too is already out there - if this is the avenue you want to go down, carry on - don't worry about it, you've already got 500+ businesses under your influence - potentially these 500+ could be your clients - contact them, see what they think, see if they're prepared to continue to use your services... at a cost... I suggest though that you stick to what you're good at, don't bother moving into other areas, such as marketing for companies - take someone on to do that side of things, last thing you want is to get inundated with tons of different areas of work and not be able to focus on what you are wanting to achieve.

 

[Krystsina]

I think what Silver is saying makes a lot of sense, and is relevant to what you've previously posted.

A bank employee can't give you business advise on opening a restaurant the only advise they can really give you is budgeting to make the restaurant work - pretty much the same as an accountant to be honest.

The OP may well have been able to aid 500+ successful companies in X amount of years, but really... how many unsuccessful companies are there?

As The Byre as stated, there's plenty of information out there - waiting for people to use - to utilize and make the information work for them in their own business... so why would there be a need to go to an ex banker?

Well, I didn't say that Silver's reply doesn't make sense - it does, and as I said previously, I partly agree with it. I just said that I don't see much connection in Silver's words referring to my post (but I see it more to the thread in common), that's why I was a bit surprised that I was quoted. Hope I explained what made me say those words

Concerning your words about the real help of a bank employee to open up a restaurant - I agree with what you say (it repeats the opinion of Silver in a way), but I just think that a bank employee can provide me with some information on the process of opening a restaurant, for example, which papers I should have to open my company bank account or what I need to provide to get a credit card machine. I know that I can just come to the bank and ask it for free, but I think a lot depends on the bank I decide to go with as some of them don't provide a good service (but provide the best charging rates) so I would say I would get a guide to know exactly what to do and what I need

 

[silvermusic]

From my own experiences, your bank is the worst place to ask for any advice, they have just their interest at heart. Get truly independent advice or shop around yourself for the best deals or advice, it's not hard, honestly. You'll get far better advice or suggestions/options to choose from on this board alone than you will from any bank or their employees.

The bank is nothing but a receptacle to store your money or borrow it if needed and charge you as much as possible for doing so. They really have no idea how to run a small business on a daily basis, zero experience, and that is in my opinion why I wouldn't bother with them or their employees.
.

 

[The Byre]

me and my fiancee opened a restaurant half a year ago. It was a very difficult process as we were new to such things (but we had some knowledge how we should do it). So based on my own experience, I would definitely say that it is quite a good idea of yours, and I would pay some money to buy a guide on how to open up a restaurant step by step.

Restaurants are a special case - most people who open successful restaurants are from the trade. They already know all the ins and outs of running a restaurant. Outsiders often make the most fundamental mistakes, such as getting the size (i.e. number of covers) wrong, buying too much fancy equipment or just the wrong equipment and often old and knackered stuff, getting into too much debt and my absolute favourite - not being able to cook!

Yes, I've even come across someone who could not boil rice - it came out all stuck together!

There are many businesses like this, which look easy from the outside, simply because they have an amateur home-based equivalent - recording music, photography, video studio, that sort of thing, where the amateur imagines that the professional works the same way they do.

From my own experiences, your bank is the worst place to ask for any advice, they have just their interest at heart.
SNIP
They really have no idea how to run a small business on a daily basis, zero experience, and that is in my opinion why I wouldn't bother with them or their employees.

This!

 

[Mark T Jones]

I broadly agree with most of the comments already made. There is already far too much free, generic advice going around

However, as you will presumably have a divided your clients, the key here is to create a clear identifiable niche which utilises your skill set. My first thought would be to give detailed support on creating realistic cashflow projections to those wanting to open a coffee shop ( no, most accountants don't do this)

There will still be challenges, the biggest being

1. Most start ups would far rather guess at wildly optimistic figures than do the required research to make them realistic

2. Most start ups won't or can't pay for advice - they'd rather listen to the dodgy bloke in the pub

If you can pull this off professionally you will be providing real value to your clients

 

[Paul Norman]

For me, you have answered your own question though.

In your opening post you say you want a steady income.

I am sure most battled hardened business owners will join me in saying that a start up is not going to provide that. Potentially not for a year or so.

Before I begin to discuss your business model, I could counsel you to sit down and really think that aspect through.

 

[Krystsina]

From my own experiences, your bank is the worst place to ask for any advice, they have just their interest at heart.

I think a lot depends on your own experience. I don't agree that all bank employees are "rotten" people who think only about their benefits. At least, I wouldn't generalise it.

They really have no idea how to run a small business on a daily basis, zero experience, and that is in my opinion why I wouldn't bother with them or their employees.

The same is here, I think everything will be different in every particular case, so I wouldn't go for generalisation.

 

[Krystsina]

Restaurants are a special case - most people who open successful restaurants are from the trade. They already know all the ins and outs of running a restaurant. Outsiders often make the most fundamental mistakes, such as getting the size (i.e. number of covers) wrong, buying too much fancy equipment or just the wrong equipment and often old and knackered stuff, getting into too much debt and my absolute favourite - not being able to cook!

Yes, I've even come across someone who could not boil rice - it came out all stuck together!

There are many businesses like this, which look easy from the outside, simply because they have an amateur home-based equivalent - recording music, photography, video studio, that sort of thing, where the amateur imagines that the professional works the same way they do.

For sure! I completely agree with you on this point. I just want to clarify that I see a sense in such guides on what to do when you start your business only in a way of explanations of bureaucracy and paperwork. That's it

 

[AllUpHere]

I've never met a bank employee who's opinion I'd take for free, I'd certainly never pay for it.

The problem the OP will have is that he's been living in the banking bubble, and will come don't to earth with a solid thud when he realises how little he knows.

 

[Mark T Jones]

The OP appears to have been scared off, which is a shame

I don't think it is reasonable to say that because of his career he can't offer advice - albeit he needs to focus that advice around things he understands and can build on.

 

[japancool]

There's a certain irony here. You claim to be a startup expert.

That was what struck me immediately on reading the OP.

What advice would you give someone who came to your office asking you the exact same question?

 

[japancool]

she has a sicker on her car

I've got pigeon poo on mine, do you think that will work as well?

 

[silvermusic]

I've never met a bank employee who's opinion I'd take for free, I'd certainly never pay for it.

The problem the OP will have is that he's been living in the banking bubble, and will come don't to earth with a solid thud when he realises how little he knows.

Couldn't agree more. In my opinion anyone who's worked for a corporate is the worst prepared person to go self-employed, the jump from one culture to another is huge, the mind-set is completely different. Even worse if you have little real world skills that really aren't relevant despite what they may think. As I said further up this thread, some of the best advice is from this forum and many others like it. I'd be intrigued to know exactly what the OP thinks they have to offer to new businesses that's of value that others would pay for?

 

[Taylormade01]

Thank you everybody some really interesting comments, plenty of food for thought. First time i have used this forum, its great! : )

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Don't be a stranger let us know how you get on

 

[Simon Dunant]

One of the challenges with providing 'advice guides' or any other publications (e or otherwise) is that you're competing with content marketers working for companies (including the bank you worked for) that can provide the very same information for free to customers through things like blog posts, videos etc.

Ultimately if people want to buy a book (ebook or physical book) on how to do something they're more likely to go to Amazon rather than a specialist site. The publishing industry (which is the industry you're in, not the 'start up' industry) for independents isn't a business that's particularly viable any longer UNLESS you're extremely niche, and drilling down too far into a niche (think 'how to start your own vegan restaurant in east London catering for millennial tourists) can mean that you're significantly limiting your potential market.

You could try self publishing on a site like lulu or createspace if you can find the right niche, but do the market research first (not just asking a few questions, ask real potential customers if they'd buy what you have to offer) before you put any words to screen/paper, and if you've seen as many businesses as you mention, you'll know that any business has to market itself far and wide so it's not a case of 'build it and they will come' any longer, the internet is too saturated for that. Any publication (or product) you create would still need to be marketed heavily, and on low cost items like ebooks it can be tough to make the numbers work.

Another alternative would be to set up ecourses (either on your own website or through something like Udemy)

Best of luck though, and keep going with the entrepreneurial spirit....

 

[John Crowder]

I think if you are asking this question, you're were I was around 2004.

10 years out of uni - successful at marketing small businesses and I always wanted my own business. Redundancy in the offing.

I had a brief go at that time. The problem was the world didn't really need another consultant in a sea of consultants.

And I wasn't ready to make the leap.

Although I was good at marketing once in the job I had no idea how to win clients and get them to pay for me.

So I took a new job because I could earn a lot more and parked the ambition for a while.

In the meantime I refined what I could offer AND what services could generate a good living. And learned how to sell on someone else's time.

Needless to say it wasn't marketing to small businesses - it was brokering deals.

I eventually went on my own in 2010.

If you are looking for a steady income, I would consider working again for now.

I like the guides idea, as insiders view, but as someone else has mentioned that doesn't seem like a fast income generator - however you could start these at anytime.

If you can handle the risk then the big one for me is as you have worked with 500+ businesses surely this an amazing customer base to start with.

Perhaps by marketing to them first you would get an strong idea of your potential worth.

And some quick wins.

Good luck
JC

 

[derick813]

I would like to have copy of your step-by-step guide.