Starting my own business... What do you need?

[conlad]

Sorry for this perhaps being in the wrong section chaps! I can't find a 'general chat' section!

Bit of background...

I'm 18, I rebuilt my first car - a 1985 mini - which I have now sold due to it robbing me of too much! 2 engines, 3 headgaskets and 4 heaters later, amongst much more! I now have a trusty 51 plate fiesta to cart me around... She is the new 'passion wagon'..


Anyway, having finished my A-levels I now need to take the next step...

Uni - piece of paper with a grade? No work experience? Debt? No thanks!
Apprenticeships - Applied for a fair few and have an interview next week... These are mostly business related
Own business - SHA TING! My dad still thinks I should do this...

Here's where you guys come in...

What could I do on my own?

I have always loved motors and can't go a day without checking on here, watching something on eBay or messing with a mates car or mine..

What could I set up on my own relative to cars? I don't want to spanner or really go into doing 'tools and servicing' with cars, something different I'm thinking... But what?




Take a look at your motor outside and ask the question.. ''What would I love to do with my car? What do I need?''

A product or service.. However bizarre! Importing products? Detailing?

Chuck them up on here, I wanna see all you got

[willowandmikey]

Parts finder and you get paid a commission.

Or

Get a garage a lift a jet wash compressor and rust proof cars

[conlad]

I like both of those ideas..

Parts finder could be interesting

[mrlivered]

I'd always encourage people to set up in business; getting a job definitely suits some people, but there are far too many people who don't consider going it alone.

The key is to research very thoroughly indeed, and not to jump in as soon as you hit upon an idea that interests you.

The two ideas above sound good; another one might be to import the actual cars, register them in the UK and sell them on?

[andrewbaran]

[waveman1500]

I don't have much advice to give, but in 2006 I was in the same position you are. Now I've got a university degree in Mechanical and Automotive Engineering and I did my work experience for GM Holden at the assembly plant, which was awesome. 6 months ago I got a job as a Supplier Quality Engineer for a chassis systems manufacturer. I'm enjoying it and looking forward to the future, but I have to say that if I was starting again from the age of 18 then I would probably do a trade apprenticeship. Not as a motor mechanic though! They get paid peanuts, at uni I earned more as a commercial cleaner than a fully qualified mechanic does. I'm not sure about the UK, but in Australia plumbers and electricians get paid an absolute fortune. I'd love to be a welder/fabricator as well, but I don't think there's much of that type of work around at the moment.

I've pursued a career in the automotive industry because I always thought that it was best to follow your passion. However, I do also think that there's something to be said about 'not mixing business with pleasure', as it were. My mate is a mechanic and spends the evenings and weekends either working on his own project car or fixing his mates' cars. The net effect is 6-7 days per week in the workshop, which must get tiring after a while!

[Battles]

I've got degrees and all that sh*t (nothing to do with cars though) but I didn't start making serious money or getting real satisfaction until I started working for myself and deciding who I wanted to work with and for, in terms of customers or business partners. I'm not sure I would say forget about doing a degree but I'm not exactly convinced that mine make all that much difference in what I do now.

You've been given a couple of interesting and totally achievable ideas up there, achievable being the important thing.
I know a few people who have been like "I'm going to start importing cars/doing up cars/building racing cars" which all require loads of investment and a brilliant reputaion. The reality is that if you're just starting out you probably have neither.

Regardles of what business you go into, get onto the Tax Man, tell them you're working as a self employed whatever and get paying your NI contribution, then you're free to work and earn.
I think the VAT threshold is £70k at the moment, don't worry about being VAT registered until you breach that.
Have a chat with an accountant but you probably don't need one all the time so don't get one on retention, get someone you can go to and pay an hourly rate as an when you need them.

Documentation and records seems to be where small business owners lose the plot. Keep it simple but keep it complete.
You need to keep receipts for absolutely everything and then work out later whether or not it is, or can be made to appear, to be a business expense. Stick them in a folder or whatever.

Err... I had typed a load of stuff here that could be dodgy. PM me if you want to discuss any theories for tax avoidance on a purely educational and anecdotal basis but for the record I definitely do not ever do anything like that.

If I was starting out now, I would probably look at doing stuff to do with cars but I'd try and be into a couple of related things. Parts finder is a good gig if you have storage. If you have storage, you can get into the "buy summer stuff cheap in winter and sell on next summer" market and vice versa. Having two income streams (or opportunities for income) gives you some wiggle room if one starts to dry up.
What you do doesn't need to be glamorous. A pal of mine recently had to switch from self employed to limited company because his "buy winter stuff cheap in summer and sell on next winter" business (mainly grit and other dull stuff) was earning too much money.

Go for it!
A young pup like you might get some Government grant money if you start up yourself, too.

[grumpy]

I think your main problem will not be what to do , it will be capital or convincing people to lend you money . Maybe doing some sort of basic business course would be a good idea so you learn how to manage accounts , cashflow etc . I usually have any number of ideas in my head which know would be good but would need 10k plus to get going .

[surprisingskoda]

To be perfectly blunt, the first thing you need is some real world working experience. You need to know how to work before starting to work for yourself.
You also need to have zero social life. for the first year at least of setting up your own thing you will not have an evening to spare.
A business course at the local tech will be very beneficial if you didn't do it at A level.
You can get a loan/grant from a couple of different trusts between 18 and 25 years old for business start-ups.
You also need to have your own idea. If you try someone elses suggestion, you can think about giving it up. If your business is your own idea, something YOU want, then you will do anything to make it work, and drag it through the dark days, force it to happen.

I was homeless and penniless for three months when I set up my business, I didn't have the money to pay myself wages and I lived of the charity of a very select group of people that housed and fed me. If I didn't believe 100% in the viability of my business (which I started with less than a grand of my own hard earned) then I would have given up, gone back to a my cosy 9-4 shop manager job, and been a quitter for the rest of my life. Two years on, my business is employing staff, selling internationally, expanding every month and I'm still doing 100 hours a week plus.

I'm sure I sound negative. I'm not - go for it - IF you have a solid plan and some backing. But you need to be warned about just how much work is involved.

[steve@sb]

Sept 14, 2013 23:46:15 GMT surprisingskoda said:

To be perfectly blunt, the first thing you need is some real world working experience. You need to know how to work before starting to work for yourself.
You also need to have zero social life. for the first year at least of setting up your own thing you will not have an evening to spare.
A business course at the local tech will be very beneficial if you didn't do it at A level.
You can get a loan/grant from a couple of different trusts between 18 and 25 years old for business start-ups.
You also need to have your own idea. If you try someone elses suggestion, you can think about giving it up. If your business is your own idea, something YOU want, then you will do anything to make it work, and drag it through the dark days, force it to happen.

I was homeless and penniless for three months when I set up my business, I didn't have the money to pay myself wages and I lived of the charity of a very select group of people that housed and fed me. If I didn't believe 100% in the viability of my business (which I started with less than a grand of my own hard earned) then I would have given up, gone back to a my cosy 9-4 shop manager job, and been a quitter for the rest of my life. Two years on, my business is employing staff, selling internationally, expanding every month and I'm still doing 100 hours a week plus.

I'm sure I sound negative. I'm not - go for it - IF you have a solid plan and some backing. But you need to be warned about just how much work is involved.

i would have to agree with this, i started in a work based training environment and i did that for the first couple of years, started to progress to forman and then with a little cash saved i decided i couldnt work for another penis again and made the leap to being in self employment. ive been like this for 7 years now and its not easy in these times. i would say if you have no qualifications or past experience in what your planning to do you may find it difficult to gain trust with customers?? BUT when you do get a good rep its better than any expensive add campaign. word of mouth will travel fast

as for a business idea i suggest something that pehaps isnt to common in your area? but something that is a quik in and out (for instance) resto work takes to long and therefor poor cash flow, perhaps opening a small motorfactor or something?

[Deleted]

You need a business plan and a lot of money, a premises to work from, more money for supplies and equipment , finance or backing to help you through the first few years, a family who will understand that you will have no money for a few years, customers who will leave their own supplier/ service provider to use an unknown person and finally a lot of money to live on for a few years whilst you get established.

But most importantly you need to know what you want to do and have the enthusiasm to see it though as for at least five years you will have no social life, no money, no time to have a curse word, suppliers chasing you for money owed, customers who can't afford to pay, bills to pay etc. whilst your mates are earning minimum wage and going out and having fun every Friday and Saturday night.

[awoo]

doing something wrong if its going like that^^^.


id recommend taking a part time job to cover your living costs to start with, start a business on the side and build it up.

it is a load of grafting but you reap what you sow. ive done it since i was 14 and always done alright out of it.


you don't "need" a lot of anything tbh at the stage youre at, if you have your head screwed on and have a grasp of micro economics you can clean up with little outlay.


if i were you i would get 1 write off or dirt cheap car, for as little as possible (so you negotiate like crazy to get the lowest price) and get a car with some value in the parts.

get up early one morning, start at 8am. strip the thing. stop only for lunch, 30mins, get back out and keep at it till about 8pm. then do what ever you want for the rest of the day - youve earnt it.
you should have it stripped in no time. then go about pricing and selling the parts lower than average sale price to turn them over quickly. weigh in the shell and any other metal asap to get some cash back and get it out of your way. in that 12hrs you can do a lot if you don't get distracted. so that means no curse word about on the internet, tv, making tea etc.

if you do this you will make your money back plus quite a bit, if you turn it over quickly you will make quite a bit in a short space of time. don't spend the money, just put it into the next one and build up. you can potentially do well if you do the graft

you will need to work hard at it though, it wont just happen.

[Deleted]

Conlad said he doesn't want to 'spanner' isn't breaking cars spannering?
But if you decided to break cars for cash
you need money to buy the car, transport it home ~(any car you buy is classed as owned by you so you need insurance for the car to drive it), money for the tools, somewhere to do the work (can you break cars at you home address, do you own your home, live with parents, friends or rent privately) after doing 12 hour days and working part time you need time to list the parts, go to the post office or wait for people to collect or not even turn up. but most Importantly don't buy a car just because it is cheap do some research as to what cars/ parts will sell quickly and for good money, these car will not be the cheaper ones.

[awoo]

hes going to need to graft and get his hands dirty, even if just to scrape cash together to get started.

hes got few qualifications or experience - also sounds like hes saying he wants to do something, yet not come up with the idea or do the hard work.

end of the day, he has a car and has rebuilt it, so has tools and space to work on a car and take it apart, so he can also drag one back to his house, work on it in his drive or on the road, etc


you need to look at what he can do/has done and what he will have by default. being all negative and throwing up minor problems as if they're real big issues wont help.



id like to have someone give me a plan of doing something really easy and fun and make money at it, but its not likely, is it.

[surprisingskoda]

What you are suggesting he do is illegal. Breaking a car as part of a business is a whole world of laws away from rebuilding a mini in the garage.

[surprisingskoda]

What you are suggesting he do is illegal. Breaking a car as part of a business is a whole world of laws away from rebuilding a mini in the garage.

[awoo]

taking bits off a car you own then selling them is illegal?

[dave21478]

Running a business dismantling cars requires a curse word-load of permissions from the local authority regarding waste disposal and depollution, to say nothing of insurance and waste operators licences.
To be very blunt, councils do not want this sort of business as it is not seen as green, so these are not easy permissions to get and there is no way - and I mean NO WAY that dismantling cars at a home address will be even remotely considered ok.

Breaking the odd car you own in your spare time - probably get away with it unless the neighbours complain. Running a business doing this - nope.

[mrlivered]

Dave, if you have some knowledge about what permissions and licences are required then it would be very useful (to the op but also to other people who will come across this thread) to give some details about that.

I take your point that these things might be difficult to obtain, but whether it's worth trying is a decision for each individual. After all, it's clearly not impossible, so a prospective vehicle dismantler would find specific information (as opposed to posts that just effectively say "don't bother because it's too hard") very useful.

[surprisingskoda]

Without turning this into a "how to become a ELV facility", because I don't think the OP was interested in that anyway...

Site needs to be approved via planning permission via council (via architect/draughtsman if you don't have copies already)
Site needs to be inspected, tested, monitored by Dept of Envir. / whoever is responsible for local waterways, leak test on ground (you get to pay for this)
if you are approved you have to fit a separator tank into the ground - circa 10-12 grand purchase price, plus the fitting.
Site needs to meet HSE regs. You WILL get shut down immediately on their authority if you are doing dangerous stuff with no regards to safety, police involved, prosecuted. Cost me £408 to get a cert to prove my electrics met the regs.
Then, you apply for your ELV licence. That's around £600/year IIRC, if you get it.
Scrap carriers licence is about £180/yr IIRC, also IIRC you have to provide financials for that showing you have £3k constantly for last 6 months or something, although that might just be if you're registering a lorry for scrap disposal.

Currently the enforcement section are targeting small-time/driveway breakers that are flaunting the regs and when they were last at my place I think the figure was something like 700 prosecutions in the last year. And the fines are not small, I know vaguely of one person that had SEVEN cars in their yard, and came out of the court £22k poorer.

So 'do a bit of breaking on the drive' is not great advice for an 18 year old with no immediate working knowledge of the trade and the legalities. There are plenty of ideas out there that won't get you prosecuted.