No-one willing to take a risk !

[MTCR]

Around 6 months ago I started a small financial services business which started growing rapidly and we had 4 employees within 3 months.

Then in Dec 10, the industry was brought to a halt by a certain high profile court case. No problem I thought, just sit it out in the meantime and scale back the business. (only capitised on around 5% of our generated business, the rest is 'on ice' pending court hearing)

Income is now somewhat minimal & sporadic and the daily workload has been reduced to around 3 hours per day. It doesn't equate to a full time job for me, with mortgage and family etc etc.

I thought . . what a great opportunity to bring a junior business partner into the business. In return for handling the daily admin, I'll train them up and maybe even reward them with a share in this small company.

Then when business picks up again, pending this damn court case, they'll be laughing, and wondering how they got to be earning £40k per year in dividends alone !

Or at least that's what I thought . . . Even poeple in unfavourable positions ie, unemployed have turned their noses up at the opportunity and cannot see the huge rewards that are just around the corner?

People seem to want everything ! but risk nothing . . . .

Any idea's poeple ?

 

[14A]

Can I firstly ask, what area (location) are you in?

 

[MTCR]

Hi, we're in St Albans.

I've tried offering the opportunity to poeple I know as a
work from home opportunity, so they dont have the transport costs.

problem is, people that are inerested are unempleyed and unreliable.

Everyone else is in work. There must be someone out there !

 

[MTCR]

Employable people tend to be employed. Maybe that's the bottom line.:|

 

[Podge]

How do you know that those interested are unreliable ?

Do you need somebody to take on this work so you will be free to find gainful employment ?

 

[TotallySport]

would you quit a job, to go and work for a company that only has 3 hours work a day, and has an inpending court case over them. Doesn't sound like job security to me.

 

[ADW]

So you want someone else to give up their job to work on a part time basis in a job that might lead to something IF a court case works out. This is also a job that you aren't prepared to stay in yourself? Am I missing anything here? If it is only a few hours surely you can cover this in the evenings/weekends if it is that worthwhile a business.

Also, with unemployed community ever growing do you think that even the newcomers to this list become instantly unreliable?

 

[MTCR]

Because they were people I was already acquainted with.

Although the income generated currently is very up and down, there is an income. If it was stable, I would have advertised and employed.

But imagine explaining in an interview "we may only be able to pay you £600 if we have a particularly bad month". They would run a mile !

So, in theory, I want to hand over the business to some motivated, reliable person to run for the coming months etc, and in return for the risk, offer a share of the business in the future perhaps.

The last resort is to sell our customer base to a larger company. But I feel rather sad about the thought.

 

[Estimator]

I wouldn't take the job. It sounds a bit dodgy.

 

[TotallySport]

Because they were people I was already acquainted with.

Although the income generated currently is very up and down, there is an income. If it was stable, I would have advertised and employed.

But imagine explaining in an interview "we may only be able to pay you £600 if we have a particularly bad month". They would run a mile !

So, in theory, I want to hand over the business to some motivated, reliable person to run for the coming months etc, and in return for the risk, offer a share of the business in the future perhaps.

The last resort is to sell our customer base to a larger company. But I feel rather sad about the thought.

Surely the answer is to get to court and resolve the case, then you can move forward. No one is going to work on those terms at the moment.

 

[sjr4x4]

I'm afraid only a rare subsection of society take risks, and these tend to end up as business owners, not employee's....

The junior partner carrot sounds like a way of getting a low paid admin person on the books.

Why not outsource any admin you don't want to do to a VA, if employee costs are expensive?

 

[MTCR]

I think you may be right sjr4x4.

note - The court case is industry wide and relates to insurance sales.

I think what I'll probaly do is go it alone. It seems people always assume the worst and avoid risks. Which I understand.

Although it's tempting to sell our caseload I'll probably just sit here and process them myself. After all that's how we started !

Thanks for the heklpful advice people.

 

[MH1]

So, in theory, I want to hand over the business to some motivated, reliable person to run for the coming months etc, and in return for the risk, offer a share of the business in the future perhaps.

The last resort is to sell our customer base to a larger company. But I feel rather sad about the thought.

Seems earlier in the thread you want out of the business yourself, so why would anyone want in?

 

[virtuallysorted]

I think the problem is that most people need cash to live on - they too have mortgages and bills to pay. If they take on work, it may very well cut off their benefits even if they don't get paid for it, since they aren't "available" for work and actively job seeking.

You could probably mothball the business and work evenings/weekends with a small degree of phone cover.

 

[What If]

This thread should be called "I'm not willing to take the risk"!

It's not about people's aversion to risk. You clearly believe this has no future otherwise you wouldn't be wanting out, so why would someone else want to become your 'manager'. It's all about risk vs reward. Unfortunately, the rewards you're offering (variable salary and 'possible' shareholding) don't outweigh the risks!

I'd be very surprised if you get someone to take you up on this 'offer'.

 

[MTCR]

It's as simple as this.

Our caseload which we generated through direct sales is now on hold due to a 'Judicial review' in high court. This is a significant amount of clients.

THEY ARE NOT FINISHED ! . . . Just temporarily on hold

Our business will resume normal trading within 3-6 months and make a weekly profit of £4k-6k.

There is a small amount of fee's currently generated each week and some
daily admin between 9am - 5pm. I cannot survive on these low fees, but that doesn't mean that nobody can !

Scenario - somebody agrees to work full time who is in a position to get by on variable payplan. 3-6 mths later, judicial review is over, trading resumes, person is now on a fixed £20k p/a and holds a stake of 20% of a company making £200k net profit and growing.

He made a good decision. Took a 'tiny risk' in my opinion.

Anyone disagree with the above? I would like to hear why.

 

[internetspaceships]

I'm confused because there have been a few mixed messages in your posts so far.

 

[MTCR]

I'm confused because there have been a few mixed messages in your posts so far.

Hi, tell me which parts are confusing. I'll explain.

I'm really keen to understand others views on this.

Cheers

 

[Podge]

It's as simple as this.

Our caseload which we generated through direct sales is now on hold due to a 'Judicial review' in high court. This is a significant amount of clients.

THEY ARE NOT FINISHED ! . . . Just temporarily on hold

Our business will resume normal trading within 3-6 months and make a weekly profit of £4k-6k.

There is a small amount of fee's currently generated each week and some
daily admin between 9am - 5pm. I cannot survive on these low fees, but that doesn't mean that nobody can !

Scenario - somebody agrees to work full time who is in a position to get by on variable payplan. 3-6 mths later, judicial review is over, trading resumes, person is now on a fixed £20k p/a and holds a stake of 20% of a company making £200k net profit and growing.

He made a good decision. Took a 'tiny risk' in my opinion.

Anyone disagree with the above? I would like to hear why.

Initially you wanted somebody to work about 3 hours a day and you would reward them by training them up, no mention of pay.
Originally they might get a share of the business, now they get 20%.

Confused :|

 

[JamesHall174]

I am heavily involved in FS, does this relate to credit card reclaim? Could you PM some details of exactly what you are looking to do, what work there is currently, what client bank you have etc. I may be able to help you out. thanks

 

[Malarky]

First you say that 'maybe' they'll get a stake in the company, then later you say they'll 'possibly' get shares. If you come across like that when approaching people, how are they to know what you are actually offering?

You can't afford to do this yourself because you have a 'mortgage and family', so do most other people, how can you seriously expect them to put that at risk when you aren't willing to?

The only people that are likely to take that risk are unemployed people, but according to you, they are 'unreliable' and because they are unemployed, they are obviously unemployable.

To repeat myself, seriously, how do you expect someone reliable and employed to take the risk when you aren't willing to yourself?

 

[MTCR]

Ok, that's a fair point.

I understand that everybody's position is different,

I just thought there may be some people out there like me a few years back, who gladly risk a varying payplan in return for shares (obviously agreed upon) in a decent company.

Hell ! There's people working commission only . . surely that's worse !

I think I'll just scrape through until the court case is finished and then re-employ on 14k p/a.

 

[MTCR]

PS. Before I get mobbed for slating the unemployed . .

What I meant was that the people that have been interested were unemployed and proved to be unreliable.

I didnt mean that all unemplyed people were unreliable

 

[Podge]

PS. Before I get mobbed for slating the unemployed . .

What I meant was that the people that have been interested were unemployed and proved to be unreliable.

I didnt mean that all unemplyed people were unreliable

You won't get mobbed on here for slating the unemployed, you may get thanked a few times.

 

[MH1]

Hell ! There's people working commission only . . surely that's worse !

Most business owners are doing this, from a decent salespersons point of view they should make £35-120k PA on commission only.

 

[MTCR]

You won't get mobbed on here for slating the unemployed, you may get thanked a few times.

I suppose I should be careful what I say . . I may be one of them fairly soon if I can't find a solution

From a different angle then, any ideas how to approach the situation?

We do have an income, but it's only around £300 per week at the moment. I cannot afford to live on this.

Has anyone got any other suggestions other than to shut up shop and walk away from the hundereds of other fee's that are sitting in our casefile ? I hate the thought of it.

Remember, they will come through, it's just a waiting game at the moment because of the banks court case.

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way. :|

 

[Podge]

I suppose I should be careful what I say . . I may be one of them fairly soon if I can't find a solution

From a different angle then, any ideas how to approach the situation?

We do have an income, but it's only around £300 per week at the moment. I cannot afford to live on this.

Has anyone got any other suggestions other than to shut up shop and walk away from the hundereds of other fee's that are sitting in our casefile ? I hate the thought of it.

Remember, they will come through, it's just a waiting game at the moment because of the banks court case.

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way. :|

I'd kill for a job paying £300 per week
Do you want a "close to retiring" apprentice ?

 

[What If]

If I've understood correctly:
1. Only requires 3hrs a day;
2. Generates £300 pw which doesn't sustain your lifestyle; and
3. 6 months and you will reach pre Dec 2010 levels.

Two solutions:
1. Cut back your spending to survive on £300 pw (its only 6 months); or
2. Get a job and fit in the 15 hours a week to keep the business going.

Simples

 

[MTCR]

If I've understood correctly:
1. Only requires 3hrs a day;
2. Generates £300 pw which doesn't sustain your lifestyle; and
3. 6 months and you will reach pre Dec 2010 levels.

Two solutions:
1. Cut back your spending to survive on £300 pw (its only 6 months); or
2. Get a job and fit in the 15 hours a week to keep the business going.

Simples

Yeah, I guess that's it.

There are a few costs to come out of the £300 like phone bill, postage etc. Some weeks more, some weeks nothing at all.

I suppose there's no real magic solution. Look to the future

 

[Chris Ashdown]

New to this, what is the court case and why has it stopped you selling

 

[shadesofblue]

Remember, they will come through, it's just a waiting game at the moment because of the banks court case.

I seem to remember people being this confident about bank charges and look what happened to that.

 

[MTCR]

I thought it would be valuable to re-open this old post... risky decisions are not easy but sometimes they do pay off !

Somehow I managed to find a guy that had a similar view to myself, who didn't mind some risk in return for a shareholding/profit share agreement if things went well.

Unfortunately for the banks, they lost the case in court, which means we can now capitalise on our complete caseload.

My new colleague is chuffed, he'll now be netting himself more in a week than he used to earn in a month and is really getting stuck into the role.

Also, he's brought some great mearketing idea's into the company.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity, as I guess the saying goes.

 

[jj_5]

Fantastic my friend very very chuffed for you.

I was reading that thread cursing my luck because I've been keen to get involved in PPI reclaim myself, and would have definitely taken that risk if I'd seen the thread!

hope you continue to go from strength to strength I'll just plod away looking for the next opportunity!