Thread: Necessities for starting a business

a course in small business management

funny you should ask i have been contacted buy several manufacturas of woodwork gear.

rollerstands, mitresaw stands, work benches, etc starting at $6.50 plus shipping from china.

they were sending me more info but havent heard anythin.

shouldnt be to hard.

Yeah I was thinking more of handplanes, lathes, turning stuff, machinery, woodcrafty stuff etc.

you would need a fair bit of start up cash...
an ABN...
Time!!!

etc

You'd need a business plan.
Identify your target market, identify your suppliers, work out how long before you are able to draw an income, work out how you'll support yourself and the business during this start up period. Work out what sort of entity you'll trade under (sole trader/partnership/company). Premises, communications, stock storage/display, materials handling. Advertising, money, money, money, delivery vehicle, counters, desks, ABN, derive, determination, energy. Ask yourself why you want to do it, if it's just for the access to cheap timber/tools it's probably the wrong reason. Ask yourself if you'll be able to make more money doing what you're currently doing.

Mick

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

Ask yourself if you'll be able to make more money doing what you're currently doing.

...as a 15 years old? Otherwise, very sound advice.

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

...as a 15 years old?

You never know, maybe pocket money for a 15yo has gone up significantly since we were that age????

Go and get business plans for dummies book it will give you some idea what you should consider before leaping in.

Don't let the work compiling the plan put you off but also don't ignore what it's telling you, don't bend the plan to come up with the answer you want.

Putting the plan together takes a little time but a lot less time than setting something up only to discover it doesn't fly.

HH.

If you are unemployed you could try a Federal Government program called NEIS. New Enterprise Incentive Scheme. I know dozens of people who have gone through it and are still running successful businesses after 10 years or more.

You need to be unemployed though to meet the criteria. Basically you get accredited small business training, and for 15 months you can collect unemployment benefit as well as run a business, this depends on the profit margin of the business. It is one of the most successful local employment initiatives the feds have ever run.

ATO also has a bit of stuff for new businesses

The reason us old pharts are talking about the admin side of business is due to there being so many things you need to do it has really become a minefield of traps for the unwary business person.

Originally Posted by funkychicken

Yeah I was thinking more of handplanes, lathes, turning stuff, machinery, woodcrafty stuff etc.

Move to Darwin and open up your business there .
We need a decent woodworkers supply shop, with lots of stock so we can play before we buy.
Just about every thing you buy here is sight unseen .

Kev.

Work out your overheads and I mean EVERYTHING. That is what you need to do to work out your margins. You can then say to yourself I need to sell x amount of dollars to earn x amount of margin to keep the doors open. It is the margin that will keep the doors open not the total amount sold. This seems simple enough but a lot of people seem to think because they turnover a certain figure they can use this figure to survive on and they go broke. So add it all up and remember if it can't pay wages it isn't worth doing, living like a pauper for the sake of being in business never struck me as being a good idea. After that you need to address all the admin details and that is why I sold up and now work for someone else, it just became to bloody hard and I was doing the government's book work and not getting paid for it.

Originally Posted by funkychicken

If I was to, say, start a business selling woodworking equipment;

What would I need to do?

your assignment for 1st term?