Starting Up

[whistle]

Ok so weeks before I left a large national to start up I had the following in place, this was almost 10 years ago now.

Car already signed up

Loads of stock

All of the tools, ladders etc

A years wages saved up in the bank as a backup

Loads of contacts potential customers I had met over the years

Accountant in place

Ltd company set up and ready to trade

Docket books, invoice books etc printed and ready to use.

I think it cost about £6k to put the above in place excluding the years wage I had saved up.

Then a lot of very long hours to get things up off the ground and running and finally never give up just keep going and trying.

And get approval ASAP.

Would I do it again, NO WAY.

[PeterJames]

Would I do it again, NO WAY.

I was only saying to one of my engineers just the other day, you boys think its easy for me sitting in a nice warm office, drinking tea made by fair maidens, you forget everytime you have a bad day I also have a bad day, the problem is theres several of you,and sometimes several of you have a bad day on the same day and that means I have a bad day several times the size of your bad day. Then theres the customers, they do their level best to get out of paying, "but the engineer said its the service guys fault" or " I pay £79.00 per year so call-outs should be free"  Then theres the admin staff "I didnt send an invoice because the engineer didnt sign the paperwork" or " I thought I would order an extra one of those for stock because we didnt have any" never mind the fact that we have only used one of those in the last twenty years and its likely to be twenty years til we need another then. Yeah running your own company is a barrel of laughs most days. Still at least I have plenty of £50.00 notes to light my cigars with

[norman]

Loads of stock

All of the tools, ladders etc

 

Yeah, ADT are still pretty lapse with stock and plant control now.

[ElecTech]

I'm sure the benefits massively outweigh the guy who has just ordered stock of 60 x claw hammers.

An engineer will always look at the gaffer and think they have it good as in there eyes your creaming the money of the top... Probably don't understand the effort gone into the sales enquiry and the general upkeep of the business let alone the stresses of keeping the company afloat. But that's business in general, everyone thinks there job is the most important.

[timmo66]

Yeah, ADT are still pretty lapse with stock and plant control now.

Yep, see loads of subbies with ADT ladders

[PeterJames]

 But that's business in general, everyone thinks there job is the most important.

Everyone is replaceable and usually by someone better, because the boss learns from his mistakes and knows what to look for, a good business is ever evolving. That said I have yet to find the perfect employee, most are successfully running there own businesses

[TPEDEVON]

Whistle is it worth it? Do you make a good turn over?

I'm definitely going ahead with it and just want to put everything in place now so I don't fail. Hopefully I'll succeed, I have a lot of contacts who'd I could work for,

It's exciting!

Hopefully all goes well, I'll probably take on my mate, who will be a fully qualified sparky next year.

So all needed for bare essential is obviously tools etc. I know all that but obviously insurance, back up of money incase all fails etc? Anything else

[goncall]

Everyone is replaceable and usually by someone better, because the boss learns from his mistakes and knows what to look for, a good business is ever evolving. That said I have yet to find the perfect employee, most are successfully running there own businesses

the sad thing is you actually believe that.....

[james.wilson]

g what do you disagree with?

[PeterJames]

the sad thing is you actually believe that.....

I said Most Gaz, you are probably the exception, and everytime I have lost an engineer I have got a better replacement ....though in some cases that wasnt hard