Starting your own business
A friend of mine emailed me last night to ask a few questions for a presentation she is doing for the Young Entrepreneurs Forum at Warwick University. I thought the answers may be of interest to some people so have posted them below:
Why did you set up in business?
Mainly because I was fed up with the crap quality of work the company I worked for produced in the web space. That and the fact that they never delivered on what they promised to staff.
What do you think of young people going straight from education into running their own business?
I worked for a year before starting Senokian. I don’t see any reason not too, the only things to bear in mind are that it can be lonely to start with (for example working in a company with existing employees will help you meet and make new friends), and also some experience you gain can be useful when you setup yourself.
The other thing to remember is that in general businesses are happy to spend more for piece of mind, for example as a student you may well build your own computer to save a bit of money. A business is more than happy to spend a few hundred quid extra, get one pre built and supported so employees don’t waste time on it.
What would you do differently if you started over?
Do it with a partner. I started Senokian on my own - with nobody to start with I didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off or to help out when things got hectic
What would be your top 3 pieces of advice?
- Don’t under charge yourself
- Make the correct first impression - we don’t have a dress code, but I am always smart when I visit people for the first time, you can then use this to gauge what you can get away with the next time
- Have fun, if running your own business isn’t fun, stop and think of another idea. Running your own business is going to consume your life for a while so you might as well enjoy it.
What are your top 3 big ‘no nos’?
- Not having fun running your business
- Poor branding - first impressions count, if you need to spend a few hundred quid getting a good logo etc. do it, it will pay dividends in the end
- Don’t give people too much of a chance. You are paying their wage, if after 3-4 months they are not performing, get rid of them
What have you found scary?
How fast time flies by when you are having fun/running your own business
What have you found fun?
Meeting new people and working with businesses
Any funny or interesting/useful stories or anecdotes about setting up your business?
We have an office dog and that is always part of office negotiations when moving.
Darren Beale said the following at April 29th, 2008 at 7:58 am :
All good points, thanks for sharing.
I think having a partner defintely has its merits but all things being equal as the sole founder one does have more flexibility IMO. I prefer to buy that second opinion in, even something as simple as buying a respected peer dinner to kick around a few ideas can work wonders.
db
Jake Stride said the following at April 29th, 2008 at 10:45 am :
Darren, you are absolutely right. Being in a business centre where we are means we can now just drop in on other people I know and run ideas past them.
I think when you start straight from uni or school though you may not know as many people who you could talk to.
young entrepreneurs said the following at May 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm :
[...] a young entrepreneur about why he started his own business and some tips to help you on your way.http://www.senokian.com/barking/2008/04/29/starting-your-own-business/Entrepreneurs&39 Organization - Fueling the Entrepreneurial Engine …EO Hyderabad member Madhu [...]