Too easy to start a business!

NeptunesMoon

hi,
Ive been self employed for about 5 years now and have a business thats going quite well. Ive always been adament about having a legit business with all insurance etc being up to scratch. the thing is, when I first started, I was trading away without the proper insurance or without any knowledge that i required such specific insurance for what I do. how was I to know? I registered a business name and as far as i could see, that was that. even VAT and tax and everything like that i only found out about a little while after first starting. now, 5 years later, having thinking ive been trading fully legit the past 5 years, i find out i need a "safety statement" in place. i dont even know if it applies to my business, i work from home (where the office is) and do service work so don't have a place of work necessarily, other than in peoples homes etc so i don't even know if it definitely applies to me, but apparantely it applies to all self employed?

anyway, Im just getting pissed off with all these things that I only eventually find out about. why is it so easy to register a business without having a clue of whats required to run a fully legit one. theres a lot of cowboys in my game operating without the right insurance and i use this as a selling point for my own, but i dont want to find out someday that Im due in court because I don't have some regulatory requirement which i never even knew about.

is there anywhere i can go to get a full list of exactly what's required for me to be all above board? There should be somewhere where you go and say "i want to start business as a _______, what do I need?"

prospect

The onus is on the Business owner to find out what is required of them.

Do you expect some state body to baby sit everyone wanting to start a business?

All the info you need is out there, whether you go to Revenue.ie, CRO.ie, your local county enterprise board, the IDA, Enterprise Ireland the ISME. There are more small business groups. The upshot is, you need to go get it, or employ someone to look after certain aspects, like an accountant to organise your tax affairs.

deman

Here in Finland, it is advised that the entrepreneur do a short business startup course before they set up the business, which then entitles them to a special business startup loan at a lower interest rate. The course is of course tax deductible as well.

zig

I think I am where you were 5 year's ago OP, im registered with revenue, but in only looking into insurance and vat, even though I'm already trading.

I'll be honest, it'd be a shame if people were deterred from starting a business because it was simply too hard to set up.

Being fully legitimate as a tiny start up can be awkward, at least when you've at least somewhat got your feet off the ground you can start getting everything sorted.

PCPhoto

OP can I clarify something .... you are complaining about all the "cowboys" operating without correct insurance etc but you were in a similar position 5yrs previous as you didn't have the correct insurance yourself ....is it possible that these "cowboys" dont know what the correct insurance is and are in the same situation as you were many moons ago.

I'm self employed and have been for almost 8-9years, like most sensible people I researched what was required and took the correct steps BEFORE i became self-employed.....the reason for so many "cowboys" is because there is no regulation in the industry.

I understand you are frustrated because the "cowboys" are probably undercutting you because they have less outgoings, best advice I can give you is pass the details of the other companies to Revenue, let them investigate the other companies to ensure they are compliant.... your only problem is keeping yourself compliant.

It is frustrating knowing that someone is willing to work for cheap because they are using the job as a nixer to top up their weekly wage or just because they like doing it...when legit businesses are suffering, but legit businesses are also greedy and charging a lot of money for simple services.