Hello,
I came to ask if anyone has experience in setting up a business and what the best way of going about it is. What is likely to be an asset to the company? How should I advertise my business and what are the pro's and con's of starting a business? The company is to sell ready made computers or to order. And that will be in the basement of an office building. The rest of the site will be like a warehouse so it would mainly sell hardware and software. With a website so people can see the latest hardware and software but at budget prices. One aim of my business is to sell quality products at low prices to clients on a low income and also sell products in bulk to buisnesses to minimise costs for them.

Let me know what you think and if there should be any changes. Please note. I am in the starting stages of the business plan and so is in the very early stages.

Thank you

Alan Kenly
Computer Engineer

Hello Alan

I've seen many business like yours and I think, if you have a good reputation (or can build it up) you'll do well.

First of all, pros and cons of starting your own business. You may be unsure if you want to delve into this new project, all guns blazing - I want you to have a look at this site though.

10 Reasons You Should Never Get A Job

It's a fantastic site. Read through that page from start to finish, and if you feel positive after reading it, great! If you don't, don't doubt yourself. You can create your own cash flow and you'll be your own boss. You have a skill that others don't. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Could I ask where the location of your business?

- Thom

Yeah, my business is in brighton, however it is not up and running yet. I need to find a site and do a lot of research.

Thanks alan

Okay, Alan. Starting well! I've had a look into it, and grants are not available for large enterprises in Brighton, but for small enterprises there's no problem and there doesn't seem to be any EC Restrictions on the computer market.

So you will most likely be eligible for a grant to get you started. You're in the midsts of writing a business plan, so I imagine you've look at the starting up questions, I'd have a look at Business support, information and advice | Business Link though and use it to guide you along with things.

- Thom

Thanks thom.

We started a completely different type of business with a candle shop that makes candles for fundraisers. So our sales were generated by people who sold for us... teams, groups, etc that wanted to raise money... and they found us by word of mouth.

In our case we were able to keep overhead low, since we would have orders put together and money up front. In your case you might be fighting overhead demands if you are relying too much on foot traffic and on site sales.

One of our biggest wins was a fundraiser through a mid-size company... was great for us. You might need a few of those kinds of wins (I know you're not doing fundraisers, just you might need a break or two before you get really going) to get started if you don't have the cash or don't want to spend too much... but I can tell you that you absolutely must have a plan financially to get it running and keeping it running. And you won't get funds elsewhere if you don't have a solid business plan complete with financial projections.

Lots of businesses fail because they don't have the financial means to keep things churning during the startup phase. If you can't project what your startup expenses are and when you'll break even, you are just mucking along hoping all goes well. It might. It might not. Better to not leave it up to chance.

In our case, we networked and did small fundraisers to get cash and just progressed to bigger things. You need to network... I'm not saying you are looking too big, but you are talking about very different customers... low income and bulk business. You might want to focus on getting into one area really well, just as the retail shop might be something that strains you more financially at first than the build to order idea.

So narrowing your customer base and your focus might be a good start... because then you need to figure out how to reach them. Talking to small companies that are more flexible and that have less red tape might be a good start. Advertising around college campuses where people might want a decent, lower price product might help.

Talking to neighborhood associations in lower income areas, if that's your gig... and I'm telling you... the fundraiser/charity thing finds a way to sell itself. I'm not saying that you need to do that, but you do need to find a way for other people to sell for you. We did it by giving them a route to a goal... they had the money for a trip or a scholarship or whatever...

If you can get people to sell for you, or promote your business for you, then you'll be in a better place. If you aim for the lower income, you need to get in with the people who will contact them or that they will contact themselves. If its business, you need to do the footwork, make some contacts...

Don't know if this helped at all. Mostly rambling, but those are some things that popped up in my head.

Feel free to throw out more details or ideas about how you plan to go.