looking to start up my own Business

tonyheaney

As the heading says i am looking to start up my own Business. I would be retail and dealing with the public. I have never done this and i want to know what measures are in place to help people get off the ground. what kind of funding is offered and social welfare payments entitlements do i revive?

Mrs OBumble

Are you on social welfare at the moment?

People you could talk to include your Local Enterprise Office.

Help!!!!

tonyheaney wrote: »

As the heading says i am looking to start up my own Business. I would be retail and dealing with the public. I have never done this and i want to know what measures are in place to help people get off the ground. what kind of funding is offered and social welfare payments entitlements do i revive?

If your on social welfare over 12months you can do the back to work enterprise allowance.....100% social welfare payments for first year 75% for second year

tonyheaney

Yes job seekers allowance did a 4.5 year ce scheme and at the end i was left high and dry. I feel i need to take control of my life wasted enough of it and its time to pull my socks up. The thing is i don't have a lot of catalpal and im afraid of what happens if it goes belly up as i have 2 young kids so a family to take care of,

Help!!!!

tonyheaney wrote: »

Yes job seekers allowance did a 4.5 year ce scheme and at the end i was left high and dry. I feel i need to take control of my life wasted enough of it and its time to pull my socks up. The thing is i don't have a lot of catalpal and im afraid of what happens if it goes belly up as i have 2 young kids so a family to take care of,

Yeah you should be ok to do the back to work enterprise allowance then.
You need to go to your local welfare office to get the form, you will then need to do a business plan. They should have someone you can speak to

professore

tonyheaney wrote: »

Yes job seekers allowance did a 4.5 year ce scheme and at the end i was left high and dry. I feel i need to take control of my life wasted enough of it and its time to pull my socks up. The thing is i don't have a lot of catalpal and im afraid of what happens if it goes belly up as i have 2 young kids so a family to take care of,

Yes it's tough alright - biggest problem I have with being self - employed is that if my business goes belly up, I'll be left waiting at least 12 months for any social welfare - whereas if you sit on your ass doing nothing you get it straight away. After 12 months I'd be long homeless.

It's a tough road, but is rewarding if it works. I'd swap any grants for the ability to get social welfare like any normal person if my business went under.

jimmii

Its not cheap to start up in retail what exactly where you planning? Its also incredibly tough and there is little funding other than BTWEA. Your Local Enterprise Office is the best place to start they run a start your own business course which is definitely worth doing there is some small funding you can get a voucher to help pay for online and same if you are looking to export and plan on going to trade shows abroad.

Help!!!!

professore wrote: »

Yes it's tough alright - biggest problem I have with being self - employed is that if my business goes belly up, I'll be left waiting at least 12 months for any social welfare - whereas if you sit on your ass doing nothing you get it straight away. After 12 months I'd be long homeless.

It's a tough road, but is rewarding if it works. I'd swap any grants for the ability to get social welfare like any normal person if my business went under.

Why would you have to wait so long?

tonyheaney

Help!!!! wrote: »

Yeah you should be ok to do the back to work enterprise allowance then.
You need to go to your local welfare office to get the form, you will then need to do a business plan. They should have someone you can speak to

meant to say i finished January 16th so i think i may fall short

Help!!!!

tonyheaney wrote: »

meant to say i finished January 16th so i think i may fall short

Are you still on JSA? How long have you been?

tonyheaney

jimmii wrote: »

Its not cheap to start up in retail what exactly where you planning? Its also incredibly tough and there is little funding other than BTWEA. Your Local Enterprise Office is the best place to start they run a start your own business course which is definitely worth doing there is some small funding you can get a voucher to help pay for online and same if you are looking to export and plan on going to trade shows abroad.

Phone repair and phone sales like phone, phone covers and such. I know there are a good few in carlow and there is an Asian lad after opening up on Kennedy ave but i have to do something

tonyheaney

Help!!!! wrote: »

Are you still on JSA? How long have you been?

Finished CE scheme on January 16 got JSA on 19th January

DoYouEvenLift

tonyheaney wrote: »

Yes job seekers allowance did a 4.5 year ce scheme and at the end i was left high and dry. I feel i need to take control of my life wasted enough of it and its time to pull my socks up. The thing is i don't have a lot of catalpal and im afraid of what happens if it goes belly up as i have 2 young kids so a family to take care of,

Help!!!!

tonyheaney wrote: »

Finished CE scheme on January 16 got JSA on 19th January

Qualifying periods
Periods of time spent in FET and Failte Ireland training courses, Community Employment, Tús, Social Economy Programme, Job Initiative, Rural Social Scheme, VTOS, Teagasc, FIT and Back to Education Schemes are accepted as qualifying periods provided you were entitled to a qualifying payment before starting on the study or training. The Department of Social Protection also counts time spent on the Community Services Programme provided you were getting a qualifying social welfare payment for at least half of the qualifying period.

jimmii

tonyheaney wrote: »

Phone repair and phone sales like phone, phone covers and such. I know there are a good few in carlow and there is an Asian lad after opening up on Kennedy ave but i have to do something

That shouldn't be too expensive as long as you can find a unit that doesn't need too much work. Best to check that there is enough demand stand outside each of their shops for a couple of hours see how many people are going in and out and how many look like they have bought something. There are really good margins in phone accessories but you need to get a lot to be able to make sure you have something for the majority of phones people will bring in. I can't stress enough how important it is to the do the research first it will safe you a lot of time in the long run.

tonyheaney

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

Dont understand your meaning

tonyheaney

jimmii wrote: »

That shouldn't be too expensive as long as you can find a unit that doesn't need too much work. Best to check that there is enough demand stand outside each of their shops for a couple of hours see how many people are going in and out and how many look like they have bought something. There are really good margins in phone accessories but you need to get a lot to be able to make sure you have something for the majority of phones people will bring in. I can't stress enough how important it is to the do the research first it will safe you a lot of time in the long run.

i was considering the old O2 store or the shop beside the meteor store

Help!!!!

Where are you planning on opening?

professore

Help!!!! wrote: »

Why would you have to wait so long?

You have to provide 12 months of accounts showing you have made no money at all and are completely out of business.

Since presumably the last year you were in business you were making SOME money, even if it was only a few thousand, you would be seen to be going through a "rough patch" and still self employed.

Remember there's no FIS for self employed people - Revenue seem to think it's no problem to have an income of € 1000 for a full year coming into a family home if you're self employed "sure aren't they all stacking it up in offshore accounts"

Maybe you can get some emergency from the HSE in the meantime, I don't know. Maybe someone who's had the misfortune of going through this can advise.

DoYouEvenLift

tonyheaney wrote: »

Dont understand your meaning

If you're looking for capital to start a business, it's important to be able to spell it first.

tonyheaney

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

If you're looking for capital to start a business, it's important to be able to spell it first.

Hmm i see, :rolleyes: so to to clarify, lets say crystal clear so we have no misunderstanding, being slightly dyslexic i should stay at home and do some daytime TV and just live off the state? Is that what you are trying to get across? :eek: Its a good thing im not completely disabled then i might as well top myself as i probably wouldn't be able to open the door let alone a business. By the way i got a good on-line app that auto corrects this message for you so as not to offend you with my bad spelling mistakes.

LOL :D

Help!!!!

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

If you're looking for capital to start a business, it's important to be able to spell it first.

Never made a spelling mistake? Must be great to be so perfect

tonyheaney

sorry i just saw this and cound'nt resist hahahaha

tonyheaney

anyhow i am thinking if i could be next to a main dealer in phones like three, vodafone or meteor it could help as that's were my main customer bas could be

Help!!!!

tonyheaney wrote: »

anyhow i am thinking if i could be next to a main dealer in phones like three, vodafone or meteor it could help as that's were my main customer bas could be

Whereabouts are you planning on opening?

jimmii

tonyheaney wrote: »

i was considering the old O2 store or the shop beside the meteor store

That seems like a good spot but I would imagine it wouldn't come cheap.

tonyheaney

Help!!!! wrote: »

Whereabouts are you planning on opening?

i have a few ideas i was thinking about next to cash for gold as it could generate business there or on potato market with the major phone retailers, or tullow street by meteor all have heavy traffic flow and all have something in common with what i have in mind. Its all on paper stage for now so just throwing out feelers.

Help!!!!

tonyheaney wrote: »

i have a few ideas i was thinking about next to cash for gold as it could generate business there or on potato market with the major phone retailers, or tullow street by meteor all have heavy traffic flow and all have something in common with what i have in mind. Its all on paper stage for now so just throwing out feelers.

Do you have enough capital to pay rent & rates for approx. 6months? + stock?
Have you thought about going to one of the shops & asking if they have space they would rent you on a weekly basis
As you said there are a few round Carlow town so if you can keep your overheads down you keep your prices down.

Geniass

Your business model would be to buy mobile phone related stuff cheap and sell it without adding any value and have a great enough Gross profit to cover O/Hs (Rent, rates, insurance, electricity, advertising)... and pay a living wage.

I'd say it would be very tough. You'd need a very high footfall near you, and that will cost rent wise (i.e. close to a Vodafone store).

Not trying to knock your initiative, but be careful, you'll be signing up to a rental contract which may have implications if your business is not successful.

To be a further negative nelly, you might need to convince the land lord your business idea is workable. He wont want to let to someone that's going to close down in a few months time.

Are you going to limit your liability by operating a company?

This tread could possibly benefit from being transferred over to the entrepreneur forum.

tonyheaney

Geniass wrote: »

Your business model would be to buy mobile phone related stuff cheap and sell it without adding any value and have a great enough Gross profit to cover O/Hs (Rent, rates, insurance, electricity, advertising)... and pay a living wage.

I'd say it would be very tough. You'd need a very high footfall near you, and that will cost rent wise (i.e. close to a Vodafone store).

Not trying to knock your initiative, but be careful, you'll be signing up to a rental contract which may have implications if your business is not successful.

To be a further negative nelly, you might need to convince the land lord your business idea is workable. He wont want to let to someone that's going to close down in a few months time.

Are you going to limit your liability by operating a company?

This tread could possibly benefit from being transferred over to the entrepreneur forum.

Hi Geniass

Yes as i mentioned above its all on paper and im looking at all angles, as you said there more to lose then gain here if it all goes belly up.

Can i ask in regards to convincing the land lord your business idea is workable. I have a friend recently in Waterford who was turned down by perspective landlords when he told them what he planed to do. Can a landlord refuse him on the grounds of his business?

The plan is maximum profit on maximum footfall given the nature of what i have in mind. Id have one person doing all the repairs in back and me on the front of house. I am also thinking of incorporating an on-line order service too so as to maximise profits. I know that the on-line side of the can easily start with out an external premises but I'm literally spring boarding all ideas to see if what i plan is viable. Plus i have no experience in business. The closest i have ever come was working as an assistant manager of several pubs in the uk when i was younger (10 years go).

jimmii

The Landlord can do whatever he want its his property. Some Landlords will be reluctant to lease a property to a new company and if you are going for a property along with someone who is already trading you are going to need to put in a pretty convincing argument. When we were looking for our first unit we ran into that a lot.