The Lack of Enterprise Show
Published on 7th May, 2009 by Stephen Lewis
The Enterprise Show’s promotional literature.
A few weeks ago I wandered into The Enterprise Show, and local initiative to encourage more people to go into business for themselves.
The advertising for this event was aimed squarely at the latent entrepreneur, with posters asking “ever dreamed of starting your own business?”, cartoon thought-bubble and all.
The tone was deliberately inspiring, implying that The Enterprise Show was the place to go for practical, hit-the-ground running advice.
The reality was sadly different. After surrendering all my personal details, I was afforded access to a soul-destroying event focusing entirely on the tedious legal and accounting minutae involved in running a business.
Granted, getting your legal and accounting ducks in a row is a necessary part of running a business, but it’s hardly the inspirational fillip that the marketing promised.
Living on borrowed time
Within two minutes of entering, the helpful “what is the health of your business” questionnaire had informed me that my fledgling enterprise was doomed to failure, unless I took immediate steps to develop a comprehensive business plan, and contact my bank about overdraft facilities.
Just for the record, I’ve been running this business for 3 years, never borrowed a penny, and am busier now than I’ve ever been.
Catering to the minority
The whole experience of attending The Enterprise Show was very much in-line with my previous encounters with the local Business Link branch (the Business Link website, on the other hand, is very useful).
In the Humberside region, if your business operates in an arena thick with red-tape — importing, exporting, or trading hazardous materials, for example — there’s a wealth of helpful information and advice available via Business Link.
The problem is, most entrepreneurs in this area aren’t international peddlers of kryptonite, they’re people hoping to start a small local business, providing a simple but valuable service or product to their customers.
Informing these budding CEOs that they can’t possibly succeed without a 40-page business plan spilling-over with financial projections and market research isn’t the best way to encourage fresh thinking, innovation, and growth in the local economy.
Keeping it simple
In the early days of my business, I wasted far too much time worrying about the legal and accounting side of things. With the benefit of hindsight, here’s what I consider to be the necessary steps to starting a simple service-based business similar to mine:
- Evaluate the validity of your idea. No need for a massive business plan or comprehensive market research, just be honest with yourself. We all know deep-down if our idea is crap, the important thing is to admit it to yourself before you waste too much time or money on it.
- Start small, so you can learn as you go (that’s part of the fun anyway), and don’t risk everything on an unproven idea (see point 1).
- Find a solicitor via the Law Society website. Most will provide you with a free initial consultation, so take a couple of hours to meet with a few local firms, pick one that you feel comfortable working with, and give him some money to prepare your terms and conditions.
- Find an accountant via the Institute of Chartered Accountants website, and sort out the best legal structure for your business. Once again, initial consultations are typically free, so you can shop around a bit to find a firm you’re happy doing business with.
- Start doing the things that you got into business to do, and hopefully start making some money.
If things go well, there may well come a time when you need to worry about the bigger stuff. That time is not now.
Interesting reading? Spread the word.
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
In this section
Recent articles
- Introducing DropDate
- Ready to Serve
- Introducing BucketList 1.1
- Does Facebook Punch Kittens?
- Got Dissatisfaction
Related links