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Author Topic: How the hell do you write a business plan ?  (Read 6903 times)

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tigers_gonads

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How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« on: 07 March 2018, 11:23:38 »

Okay, the story is ......  I lost my last job back in November  :'(
Employment chances around here for a ex self employed sparky who is now in his 50's are close to zero.
Quite simply, they are too many blokes (and women) out there who have just the same amount of experience but are 20 years younger then me so you get the odd interview and then a polite break orf  :(

Our lass is working her more then ample assets off keeping the house going and my money is rapidly running out so I either go back on the road for 8 months a year and do 11 hour shifts / anything upto 11 shifts in a row on shite money OR I go self employed and try and get some of my old customers back  :y

I am under no illusions that I can't make a decent living out of sparkying around here due to the amount of people in my field trying to scrape a lifting but something is better then nothing AND i'm quite happy to take a small retail job if I can to make ends meet  :y

Right, I have applied for a business start up funding through the Pinnacle People New Enterprise Allowance which if I can write a plan / fill out the online plan which passes the tests then its worth 65 quid a week for 13 weeks then 33 quid a week for another 13 weeks tax free  :y
A added bonus is that since I went bankrupt 7 years ago, I don't owe a penny to anybody and intend to run the business (as in life) on a zero debt basis. I'll only take a wage when feasible I to subsidise any other part time job I can get.

Another ball ache is ................ I have turned down 3 part time jobs since Christmas due to the fact of if I take a job BEFORE I get this grant, it excludes me from this scheme.
Once I get the grant, I can take a part time job as long as the business hours are more  :y

Has anybody on here ever applied for this ?

Looking at the booklet, imo its leans more to retail and most of the questions are irrelevant to me BUT my lovely adviser strongly disagrees  :(

Help pleeeease  :)
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Doctor Gollum

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #1 on: 07 March 2018, 11:37:58 »

What is your intended business?
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tigers_gonads

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #2 on: 07 March 2018, 11:45:56 »

What is your intended business?


Sole trader
Sparky / alarms / cctv as before but this time, debt free  ;)

I have some potential work there but need to go legit    ;)

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Andy B

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #3 on: 07 March 2018, 11:58:11 »

Sorry I can't offer any help other than to wish you good luck.

Have you signed on with agencies? When I was looking for mech fitting work it always seemed that there was more in the way of jobs for sparks
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tigers_gonads

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #4 on: 07 March 2018, 12:06:44 »

Sorry I can't offer any help other than to wish you good luck.

Have you signed on with agencies? When I was looking for mech fitting work it always seemed that there was more in the way of jobs for sparks

I'm on the books with a couple of agency's but nothing that keeps me local.
To be honest Andy, some of my qualifications are out of date for site work and with various parts of my body starting to fall apart i'm just looking at small jobs now days.
The days when I chased the money are well gone.
I'd be happy with 2 or 3 small sparkying / alarm jobs a week and a steady part time job  :y
Just to keep my hand in if you know what I mean ..........
« Last Edit: 07 March 2018, 12:10:48 by tigers_gonads »
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Field Marshal Dr. Opti

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #5 on: 07 March 2018, 12:19:35 »

Sorry I can't offer any help other than to wish you good luck.

Have you signed on with agencies? When I was looking for mech fitting work it always seemed that there was more in the way of jobs for sparks

Good luck with the job search, Mr Gonads. SE is good provided you are aware that 'payment for work' will be all over the place. Some people, especially those who need certain things to happen at exactly the same time each week will be out of their comfort zone with SE, and fail to thrive.

Agency work can help......but the bastards often advertise jobs that don't actually exist. :-\
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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #6 on: 07 March 2018, 12:21:19 »

What is your intended business?


Sole trader
Sparky / alarms / cctv as before but this time, debt free  ;)

I have some potential work there but need to go legit    ;)

How quickly do you need it? The wife of one of my team members (on holiday this week) is responsible for allocating around £10m p.a. of Big Lottery cash and then administering the project funding (so looking at how projects are performing against their stated objectives). While this is different to what you're talking about, she does a lot of work with places small place like soup kitchens etc so will have seen more small business plans than we've had hot dinners.

I can see if she has one you can crib or maybe a template, would have to wait until next week though.  :-\
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Sir Tigger KC

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #7 on: 07 March 2018, 12:23:24 »

Are you qualified to do electrical safety tests Mr Gonads?  ???

I think that this is an area of sparkydom that will boom in the near future as regulations are tightened on rental properties.  ;)

There is talk of a mandatory test every 5 years, and at one point they were talking about Landlords having to have a fresh safety cert at the start of every tenancy.  :-\
« Last Edit: 07 March 2018, 12:25:25 by Sir Tigger QC »
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chrisio

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #8 on: 07 March 2018, 12:33:46 »

When I applied for funding for help with starting my business I found the hoops and hurdles I had to navigate seemed to geared in putting you off even applying and in-fact did actually put me off applying for a grant.  I actually found one of my old business plans that I had to write and its complete rubbish.

I started off on my kitchen table printing posters and selling them on eBay before moving into a small office all with the intent of doing it all internet based but it snowballed and before I knew it I had a shop on the high street!

I kept my part-time evening job until January 23rd this year working 20hrs per week evenings and weekends at Halfords which paid the bills and meant every spare penny went back into the business.  If you are aiming to have a part-time job do you even need to apply for funding can you not just build it slowly and cherry pick the jobs you want to do?  you have the advantage that your business can be ran out the back of your car so its not like you need 6 months rent upfront on a shop front.

Chris



 
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tigers_gonads

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #9 on: 07 March 2018, 12:34:13 »

Sorry I can't offer any help other than to wish you good luck.

Have you signed on with agencies? When I was looking for mech fitting work it always seemed that there was more in the way of jobs for sparks

Good luck with the job search, Mr Gonads. SE is good provided you are aware that 'payment for work' will be all over the place. Some people, especially those who need certain things to happen at exactly the same time each week will be out of their comfort zone with SE, and fail to thrive.

Agency work can help......but the bastards often advertise jobs that don't actually exist. :-\


Tell me about it  >:(

Tbh, the chance of me sub contracting is pretty low.
That's why I lost my business last time through so called colleagues not paying me and the bank pulling a fast one on a business loan  >:(

Any jobs I take on will be private customers. That way, you know were to go if they don't pay up  ;D

 
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tigers_gonads

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #10 on: 07 March 2018, 12:36:47 »

What is your intended business?


Sole trader
Sparky / alarms / cctv as before but this time, debt free  ;)

I have some potential work there but need to go legit    ;)

How quickly do you need it? The wife of one of my team members (on holiday this week) is responsible for allocating around £10m p.a. of Big Lottery cash and then administering the project funding (so looking at how projects are performing against their stated objectives). While this is different to what you're talking about, she does a lot of work with places small place like soup kitchens etc so will have seen more small business plans than we've had hot dinners.

I can see if she has one you can crib or maybe a template, would have to wait until next week though.  :-\

To be honest Jimmy, i've been chipping away at this for a few weeks with not much success  :-[
They want it in by Monday morning  :(

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Bigron

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #11 on: 07 March 2018, 12:38:43 »

When I worked at a college, the electrical department ran a PAT course, and the students then went on to do very nicely doing the rounds of firms who needed their electrical items certificated. All they needed was the testing equipment, a small box which performed in sulation resistance, etc., and gave a readout to confirm safety.
Could you do something like that?

Ron.
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Doctor Gollum

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #12 on: 07 March 2018, 12:40:56 »

What is your intended business?


Sole trader
Sparky / alarms / cctv as before but this time, debt free  ;)

I have some potential work there but need to go legit    ;)
OK, you'll need to produce some sort of pricing structure along with the cost of materials with/out your mark up, liability insurance, consumables/tools etc.

Then demonstrate that you've made allowances for putting aside tax/NI ready for when it becomes due.

Alternatively, just set up as self employed and get going without being tied to the grant, unless you really want to be bound by its conditions. This route would also free you up to do short contracts through agencies, although I am inclined to agree with the good lord on them...

Also, if you have C1 and along with a current medical (if over 45) then it might be worth getting your digicard and starting a dcpc course... This would help give an ad-hoc income source and might open other opportunities for the electrical bits...
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tigers_gonads

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #13 on: 07 March 2018, 12:42:47 »

Are you qualified to do electrical safety tests Mr Gonads?  ???

I think that this is an area of sparkydom that will boom in the near future as regulations are tightened on rental properties.  ;)

There is talk of a mandatory test every 5 years, and at one point they were talking about Landlords having to have a fresh safety cert at the start of every tenancy.  :-\



Yes and No  ;D

I'm upto 16th edition IEE regs BUT I do have my Part P.
To self certificate, i'd need to join up with a IEE organisation like NAPIT.
I spoke to NAPIT a few weeks ago (I know the local rep) and there opinion is .............

Because they know me from the past, they will let me in the door on a low level until I give them more money / do the 17th edition course.
Until then, i'd be stuck on 4 self certificates per year  ;)
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tigers_gonads

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Re: How the hell do you write a business plan ?
« Reply #14 on: 07 March 2018, 12:45:53 »

Right, I need to pop out.
When I get back, i'll copy and paste the questions in the plan on here and we will take it from there  :y

Maybe we can get somewhere by Monday  :y

Thanks for the interest lads  :)
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