I have half a business studies degree. However this is my first and only business.
Very nearly your first... except for the few weeks you were involved with the cake business with Billie-Jean, your sister. - This was while you were at BPP 'University'? Looking at the books, that little business seems to be going in and out with the tide!
What you will have are maybe six or seven modules from a (frankly dubious) business studies course; which do add to your
Record of Education and Training (RET) and might be suitable for credit transfer to another course (HNC/D for example) - this is not, however 'half a degree' or anything at all really.
It would appear that BPP taught you poorly... because they seem to have left you with some very odd ideas about what a business is and how one might be built...
My business is a website aimed at companies in the wedding industry, this can range from photographers to cake shops to venues. The company will sign up to my website and newly engaged couples will find them. It is the sort of business that runs itself.
How would you know it is if this is your 'first and only' business? I think most legitimate business people with a bit of experience would find the notion of a 'business that runs itself' somewhat unlikely.
- As well as a poor credit record, you have a record of poor judgement and failure/refusal to take good advice!
Back in March 2018 you were telling how you
were "a startup company with no experience" that hoped to charge £100 per click, £50 per impression, £100 per inquiry and £6 per click when a company placed a pop-up ad on your website. - That's not to mention the 10% commission you wanted to charge on sales...
Now, this was 2018 - some time after you acquired your 'half a business degree' ...Which would have appeared to have done little else than fill your head with delusions! That thread (entitled "My payment methods") took some quite comedic directions...
Yell... You became enamoured by the descendant of Yellow Pages which, for generations, has been taking businesses - particularly startups run by callow young people - for absolute mugs! From the sound of your encounter, it sounds as if their sales techniques and upselling (of complete rubbish) have not changed in nearly 40 years.
So complete was the 'number' they done on you, you refused to listen to genuine experienced experts who were not salesmen on commission; but the 'real deal' ...
You wrote (13th March 2018)
"I believe Yell on the matter that my website takes time to develop and needs the technical side for me and the accountant to monitor and track payment.
I have no experience with this sort of thing so i took there word for it."
What you actually did here was get sucked-in by predators who told you what you wanted to hear, rather than what you need to hear.
As mhall put it at the time...
"Let's be honest, if harsh. You need to grow up and realise this is a non starter. You have not made one mention of a decent Business Plan that will back up any of your claims. You are trusting in Yell who have an interest in screwing you. You have nothing to put in yourself. You expect others to take a risk on you. You have bad credit, so already a poor track record. You constantly moan about life being unfair but have already screwed others yourself (bad credit). Save the money yourself, take your own risks."
Six years on...
six years! - and it's the same old, same old...
What's interesting about all this - apart from the sheer vacuity of your 'idea' Ingrid, is the obsession you have is with raising a relatively large sum of money. - It was £38K last time, now it's £20K
Billie... Or should I give you your full name of Billie-Jean? - Ingrid's sister! - And yes; I do know exactly who and where you are...
"Everyone circumstances is different so you cannot compare what one person receives in benefits to another"
Actually - I can. I spend part of my working life working in TV journalism; among other things I research and fact-check various issues. In-work poverty is a major issue these days; as is debunking much of the rhetoric surrounding the benefits system... it's something I've done quite a bit of work on.
Current support generally - and particularly for self-employed people - is scandalous; and it's little wonder we're reporting on 'Dickensian-type' suffering.
It would be dubious-enough if a
single person were to propose diverting significant monies away from benefits payments to fund the starting of a business. ...I
have heard of people buying bits-and-pieces of stock to sell at flea markets or on eBay and building up little businesses that way; but to take on significant debt? - Madness!
'£900' a month would indeed be an extraordinary amount for a
single person to be getting from benefits... when even disabled people receive nothing like that. And in case
you haven't worked it out, what I was doing was providing the opportunity
for her to explain this.
- Either she was lying about that 'income' or there is more to it.
Your sister is apparently unemployed - again! And the £953. 32 per month she may (or may not) be in receipt of is (by calculation, can only be) an allowance to support an adult single parent
and two children... I am yet to speak to or hear of anyone in that situation who is coping at all well with this level of income and children to support - even with additional familial support.
What's now being suggested - using that money to pay back a loan taken for the purposes of investment in a business - means that money isn't being used to pay household bills
and feed the children... I suspect many people
would find that absolutely appalling. - Certainly; I can't imagine any business lender finding it remotely acceptable.
You wrote Billie that "I think a grant would be a better idea".
Certainly if some sort of grant could be got it would obviate the 'issues' of using benefits money to pay off a loan... but then, any organisation that offers either soft-loans or grants will subject the application to close scrutiny...
Ingrid writes...
"I have a business plan and forecast ready."
Based on what exactly? - And by that I means starting with
verifiable data as to what exactly the market is, who the competition are and what advantage you might have; cogent market analysis.
When you last floated this idea half-a-dozen years ago - you were quite frankly clueless... and you present no evidence now that anything has changed.
For example:
"I have not got the best credit rating but I get just over £900 in benefits a month so I can afford repayment."
There are two possibilities here... either you're lying about the level of benefits you're receiving (in the hope of fooling someone into giving you a loan); or you're prepared to gamble with the already-inadequate allowance provided to put food in your children's mouths...
There are very few businesses that will break-even, let alone make profit in anything other than a number of years... Half-a-decade is not uncommon or unreasonable.
Post-covid? Well, many businesses that started in the preceding years were left in limbo... if they survived at all. Many re-emerged in much denuded form. - Businesses that started in maybe 2015 or 16 and were just about to break even were bumped right back to square one. Markets have changed... and not for the better!
What state is the wedding trade in these days? - Rhetorical question; it's certainly not what it once was.
If you imagine you're going to pay this loan off benefits you are quite frankly nuts! Irresponsibly so! - And no, you're not going to 'get rich quick' from the wedding trade.
But you know... I'm wondering; can you really be that daft? What is it you
really want the 20K for?
