Freemasonry for New Business Start-Ups!

Darragh29

I've been running my own business for two-three years now and recently while out for a long walk up a high mountain with the auld dog, I thought a lot about the journey that my life into self employment over the last few years has taken me through. I thought about how hard times where, how utterly lonely and head snackingly frustrating it could be at times and how isolated a position it can be when you are "the gaffer". I thought about how I coped and got through it when the absolute unexpected happened, like for example, an employee stealing cash & stock from the business and nearly putting me under, transactions sometimes becoming completely undone and end up losing us serious money because someone in the business didn't do their job, and smaller moments of crisis like the phone being disconnected because I forgot to pay the bill, or thinking I had just made my first week of profit only to turn around and see three suppliers standing beside each other calling in for a cheque, and all the other events that happen that make you feel like you are on an emotional roller coster!

Anyway, recently enough (stick with me, I'm actually going somewhere with this story!), a guy I know it the town who is also self employed invited me to a BNI (Business Networks International) meeting. I went to a few meetings and decided that it was not for me or my business at this partitcular time. I felt that maybe down the road it could be, but I didn't think I was sufficiently set up enough at the moment to be able to contribute properly and completely.

Anyway, in one of those early morning meetings, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be good if there was a forum similar to the BNI template, but exclusively for New Business Start-Ups??? I was thinking, if you took the model that the Credit Union use, and also the model that the BNI use, and threw a few other things in there, you would have a support framework for small start-up businesses that could really offer something.

I mentioned the Credit Union in the sentence above because recently I approached by bank and was actually disgusted at how I was treated when I looked for finance. It is obvious that the banks at the moment are not interested in small business. I thought to myself, "what if there was an organisation that REALLY supported small start-up businesses", as in could provide encouragement, assistance, small finance facilities, training, etc, etc.

- Does anyone know if there is anything like this in Ireland at the moment??? If not, would anyone be interested in starting up such an organisation??? I was thinking along the lines of the Freemasons when this idea came up in my head (I'm not a Freemason but did read a book on them on a recent holiday!), each member devotes themselves to a concept of fraternity, where the key of being in the group is supporting others who need support... I think an organisation like this for entrepreneurs is long long overdue!!!

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Darragh29

No probs TS... It had crossed my mind that the SFA might be into this already but when I looked into this, it looked like the SFA was more like a lobby organisation, but what I had in mind was something, which more represents the interests of small business than it would represent the interests of new businesses. I found through my own experience that in reality there is no support for new business in Ireland. What I noticed lately, with all this talk of recession and economic depression, was that Irish people seem to inherently expect other people to provide employment for them. It's like a part of the national mindset, we sh*t ourselves when the economy falters and large companies go elsewhere, because we expect them to come here and give us jobs. If you want to start up a business yourself and create employment, its like you are abnormal or deviant in some way, you are misunderstood from the minute you make that decision. Obviously I'm only speaking for myself here, but this has certainly been my recent experience.

What I'm thinking of is something like a BNI culture, a deeply embedded sense of expectation within the group where you have to actively help everyone else in the group, but you also are exposed to a culture that is conductive to making profit and if you are not making a profit, you can get up and say you are not making a profit and others can help you put a proper angle on your business. I know when I started up, a very good friend sat me down and told me the following:

"the vast majority of business start-ups fail because they are not run like a business from day one. They have an excellent idea or concept and they make a balls of the marketing (usually by ignoring the need to market the business in the first place), or get their pricing wrong or fail to set and meet sales targets and profit margins, basically by making some very fundamental business mistakes the business ultimately fails, not because the original concept was flawed but because the execution of the start-up was not done properly and in a business like manner".

What I had in mind was something that expected much much more of members than the SFA. With the SFA, you sign up, pay in and you go to a few seminars and probably get a few newsletters a year. What I was thinking of was more like BNI where you can go in and sell your business to others, if you have a problem with sales or with profit, you can stand up and say it and get help. To be honest, I don't have a full picture of what this organisation would offer or what it would be about, I just have bits and pieces in my head. I got the idea when I spoke to some friends of mine who started up a few years ago and are well away from the runway now and are flying straight and level, it always amazed me how eager they are to help me, to warn me of where the pitfalls are, way before I've even seen them coming. I started thinking, "Christ if I could get these guys into some sort of group or system, the advice and help they can give would be worth their weight in gold"...


Also from a funding perspective, imagine a Credit Union type organisation, exclusively for small start-up businesses... What ya think???

homeOwner

If you are in Dublin check out http://www.dbic.ie/ they offer very good support and hothouse facilities and seminars often in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland. I went to a seminar recently on Funding and it was very good. I think they regularly do others.

ImDave

Sounds like a very interesting idea. The great thing about a group of people with a common interest, is that they are all passionate about the subject at hand, and passion is something which is really essential for business and entrepreneurship. Many entrepreneurs can draw on previous knowledge/experience/education in the planning and running of their business. This is the kind of knowledge which can be shared. For example, areas such as accounting and finance practices are areas which scare many new entrepreneurs. Getting good advice can be a long and expensive process. Such a fourm as the proposed allows for quality advice and opinions being offered from people who have experienced similar circumstances on a first hand basis.

Darragh29

EI-DAV wrote: »

Sounds like a very interesting idea. The great thing about a group of people with a common interest, is that they are all passionate about the subject at hand, and passion is something which is really essential for business and entrepreneurship. Many entrepreneurs can draw on previous knowledge/experience/education in the planning and running of their business. This is the kind of knowledge which can be shared. For example, areas such as accounting and finance practices are areas which scare many new entrepreneurs. Getting good advice can be a long and expensive process. Such a fourm as the proposed allows for quality advice and opinions being offered from people who have experienced similar circumstances on a first hand basis.

Thanks for the feedback EI. I'm going to go ahead with this idea. Trying to think of a name for this organisation, all suggestions welcome!