Why 50% of start-ups go bust within a year?

I have no shame in admitting that I fall into this category. Foolishly I thought starting up a business is simple.  With my redundancy money idle in the bank earning zero interest.  It made logically sense to use it to build a company as I always liked the notion of being my own boss.

After reading numerous literatures, attending seminars and spending hours researching in the British Library on copy rights. Suffering from analysis paralysis, I could not come up with a business idea. Impatience and eagerness to get started, I took the easy route and copied someone else’s idea.

Being ignorant, of course I ignored the advice to take baby steps instead I went all out to mimic the competition. However, by not having the passion or the know-how each day became a battle and a drain to my bank balance. 

Finally, after nine months of denial, realisation kicked in that my business was not viable and also I cannot sell even if my life depends on it.  I do not have what is takes to be an entrepreneur. I certainly would be fired by Lord Sugar if I were on his show. 

Running a business is not simple and hard work does not equate to success.  A business without a unique selling proposition would destine to fail.

Budget Day....rip-off Britain

Today, I had my first meeting with the business councillor, at my local Small Business Centre, for some advice and guidance on starting up a business. It was helpful. Luckily, this service is totally free and I can seek their help as and when required. So, I have booked in a second session to motivate myself to make some progress with my ideas for discussion in the next meeting.

The UK Budget does not sound too good….as expected income tax to go up for the comfortably rich (GBP100K+) but it does not hurt the super rich since they have already left the country. There will be an exodus. I would not mind living in the French Riviera/ Monaco…not that far only 2 hours commune to London via air. I wonder do MPs actually pay income tax on their expense claims that supplement their annual salary to over GBP100K+? People do not mind paying high taxes if the tax payers’ money is spent wisely and the services offered are of reasonable standards and value for money…in this case they are sub-standard. Hence, the tax payers are not happy Mr. Brown!

I have just finished re-reading a book by George Turner, published in 1987, titled The Sea and Summer. I found the book gathering dust at my parents’ house during Easter …I first read it when I was a fresh face Uni undergraduate …it did not make an impression on me then…since the subject matter did not feel real then. But now it is pretty scary stuff…as summarised from the back cover of the book “In the 21st Century poor nations sink in accumulated debt and the great nations can no longer support them. Industry embraces automation to cut costs, so unemployment rises until few can afford more than necessities. Population rises inexorably, but who dares risk the psychological backlash of childless generations? And over the planet the Greenhouse Effect makes chaos of weather and food production. The story is set in drowning Melbourne. Society is more deeply split than ever before into Haves and Have-nots; and the story, involving totally real people in a totally convincing setting, is fast, often violent, often moving, always gripping…” Does it sound familiar? Something for us to think about….it is worth reading really!

Sorry to end with a sombre note at least it is another beautiful sunny day in London.

Your thoughts on the book for those of you who are brave enough to read it!

My great escape & tax payers' money on tap for MPs

My first day of freedom from the rat race…. I felt guilty for not being at work but leisurely reading a book titled Think & Grow Rich and wondering whether my fellow tube passengers thinking that I am skiving off work…if so there is quite a lot of us out and about at 2 pm!!! Well, it is a lovely sunny day…why not they enjoy it whilst they can. Even the hair dressers are busy today…could hair dressing be recession proof? I tend not to make a hair appointment but to show up since I do not like going to the hair dressers as they tend to moan about the volume and thickness of my hair. Thus, I ended up walking around looking for a hair salon that had a free slot for a cut and blow dry. The poor hairdresser ended up with a dead arm in blow drying my hair to avoid it from fizzy uncontrollably. Of course, he moaned and moaned….it may be a guilt trick to get me to tip him more since he spent so much time on my hair…well it worked!!! At least I made someone happy;)

I got a freebie in return….received a Green & Blacks Easter egg with my Evening Standard newspaper. I wish I had not read the newspaper...it got me extremely peeved....There is an article on the UK politicians being extremely liberal with our hard earned tax payers' money (GBP1.4m) on their fact-finding overseas visits (more like jollies to me) and luxurious 5 stars hotel plus spending money without them having to provide receipts of their spends nor requiring to return the unspent amount back to the coffer….what is this UK Government turning into?….It is definitely recession proof to be a UK politician….maybe I should apply as a MP since I am very good at spending money and want to develop my property portfolio and also I enjoy overseas travels. I should seriously take my good friend’s advice to sign on the dole (but I am ashame to sponge of the State...as I had been brought up to work for a living) to get some of my hard earned money back whilst I can.

I am still awaiting for business ideas with low start-up costs that I can afford to fail (taking a friend’s advice to take baby steps to gain experience and to learn from mistakes). My initial business idea is not doable right now since it has a high start-up cost and it will also take me some time to find the right location for its high street presence....also to wait for the retail rental to drop. My final rant for today....why are the local councils rising/rised their business rates whilst businesses are suffering already from the recession? It does not make sense....do they want more people to be on the dole to break the record of highest number of people unemployed (currently standing at 3.2 millions plus 1 if I sign on). It is time for change....watch out Mr. Brown...we, the voters, are NOT happy!!!

Your thoughts and suggestions of low start-up cost business ideas are very welcome.

Ex-bank worker's Last day at work ending in flames

After 3 months of uncertainty on who is to stay or who is to go (i.e. fired). At last, it is my final day at work and tomorrow I will be joining the millions of people who had lost their jobs due to the credit crunch debacle and some dishonest/greedy fellas. Not surprisingly after a lengthy consultation period that I am not afraid to use this opportunity to see whether I could survive outside the corporate world and make it on my own. It seems that being an entrepreneur is very fashionable these days with popular TV shows, Dragon’s Den and Apprentice. So I will give it a try and find out what is all the fuss is about!

I sheepishly left after my leaving presentation (before 5 pm) but managed to time it badly to coincide with a fire evacuation so had to walk down 8 flights of stairs dragging my heavy leaving gifts (printer/scanner/copier combo and books). My first thought, it was a fire drill but it turned out to be an actual fire as the ground floor was smoky. What a way to go! Strangely, on 18th March a building next to the lawyers’ office in Holborn went up in flames when the solicitor was in the middle of walking me through the legal clauses of the redundancy agreement. For those of you who are superstitious….yes it may be a sign… saying that I am fired!!!

Please let me know if you enjoyed my first blog. My next installment is coming soon….