Should I take the plunge??

[david248005]

Hi
First of all I will give you a bit of my background. I am 46 with a MCDST certificate and currently doing CCNA. I cannot seem to get a job as I have no direct experience within a company enviroment and also my age seems to put them off!

I have been repairing pc's and ofering support for 4 years now subsidised by a part time job. I have now lost the part time job and really need to make a decision.

I have been offered a town centre office rent free for first three months then £400 per month thereafter. My question is: Do you think I should go for it and gamble that the office will boost my number of jobs. I live in a town of 40000 population and there is only 2 other shops doing this business. Oh and it is UK.

I do not have any money behind me so it has to work!

What do you think??

I am not looking to make a fortune, (although it would be nice). Just would be happy to do a job I love and pay bills

 

[abe]

Hi.

well it really depends on how many jobs your getting andhow much you charge but if your covering the £400 plus utilities and you still have some money after expenses then I would say that you have a good chance to make a decent profit.

!ust my 2cents

 

[14049752]

I'm more inclined to say "No". You need to be able to cover more than just office expenses, including your own personal bills. If you don't have any money to fall back on, you're setting yourself up to starve.
Getting a business to the point where you can just pay your bills takes some time. Unless you have enough money to pay bills for a while, enough to advertise to get jobs, and enough to cover a few more months of rent at your office, keep looking for a traditional job.
Sorry to be so negative about it, but most new businesses fail for reasons like that.

 

[jj2000]

I'm more inclined to say "No". You need to be able to cover more than just office expenses, including your own personal bills. If you don't have any money to fall back on, you're setting yourself up to starve.
Getting a business to the point where you can just pay your bills takes some time.

agreed it took me almost 3 years to get to the stage where i could comfortably afford the bills and expenses and man it was a major struggle to begin with but things are now stable. If i was starting again i don't think i personally would go down that route but i would try to work from home to begin with,you say there are only 2 other shops in your town dealing with this sort of work well i would check out how well they ar doing before commiting myself to any contracts for office space.

 

[RoboGeek]

When I started I had very few customers.. but I knew I could beat the competition. I tool some small business classes and learned the laws, and since no bank would give me a loan, I financed my entire business on 3 credit cards.

You would have to cut out my tongue to stop me from telling someone to not try it. But the question is: are you better than your competition?

4 yrs experience really isn't alot, and unless you've worked in a heavy volume shop you probably haven't really gotten the experience you need to run a shop. It took me 15 years before I did it, and I had alot to offer the other shops around can't.

Heck, I've been trying for 3 years to find a tech (employee) and I haven't found one good enough yet. Not trying to sound mean, but if you can't get hired at a credible shop, why would you think you could run an entire business?

 

[ICEinLAVA]

Not knowing your skill, and considering if your skills are up to par. I would say, Yes you should start your own business. That is if you can afford to have slow business while your able to do marketing and build your client base.

I have been offered a town centre office rent free for first three months then £400 per month thereafter.

I would strongly discourage your choice to rent office space until your client base is large enough to support the location. if you do decide to get the office space, don't get locked into a long term lease or contract in case you are not able to afford it.

Just because you have office space isn't going to guarantee your going to have business to pay for the unit. I would suggest setting up your business at home.

I hope everything works out for you though.

 

[The Birddog]

You need to do a simple profit and loss forecast. I would say that in a town of 40000 pop and only two repair shops you are onto a winner.

My town has a pop of 15000 and two repair shops, both are busy. I was thinking of opening a shop in my town and the only thing that put me off was being tied to the shop from 9.00 - 5.00 monday to friday plus saturday mornings. I'm still debating though.

Please keep us all informed as to what your doing.

 

[NWPhotog]

I was thinking of opening a shop in my town and the only thing that put me off was being tied to the shop from 9.00 - 5.00 monday to friday plus saturday mornings. I'm still debating though.

Yeah, that is the killer. Shop rent/expenses, inventory, and 9-5 staffing.

 

[david248005]

A lot of good advise been given here. Given that I would be gambling that the premises would give me the number of jobs needed, I think I will hold off for now. I'm still tempted believe me. I have run business before but not in IT so that side doesn't bother me. The hours manning the shop don't worry me either.

Think I'll have to either get a bigger customer base or try and get some money behind me.

I'll keep you posted what I decide

Thanks again

 

[bagellad]

I just wonder how many customers having a office generates, I have had several customers want to stop by my place lately.. but not enough to cover the expenses I would have.. Time to fix up the garage?? Maybe..