Myself and my fiancé are looking at starting our own business in our local town, it will be in the food industry.
So my question is, have people successfully ran a business in a smallish town? And how did it affect your family life? We have 2 children under the age of 3. My fiancé works full time and I'm a sahm.
Also how do I start out the process of we decide to follow through with this?
Starting a small business.
Starting a small business.
Posted in:
IM's In Business
1 Replies
You really need to make sure you do your market research and make sure the town actually needs your services. Figure out what your costs would be including start up (would you be starting in a food van or leasing property? etc), be realistic about the ramifications of doing things like signing a lease if the business shuts down in 12 months. Figure out what your profit margins are and how long you project it will take to start bringing in an income for your family. Figure out how much you need to live on top of running costs.
Running a business with a young family is damn hard. We tried and failed. Be aware of what the worst possible scenario is for you and your family if the business fails and be ready to accept that at any time. Then if you decide to go ahead with it put the worst out of your mind and focus on the best case scenario 100%. Try not to have too many overheads to begin with - start small and simply and build from there.
As for the first thing you need to do, I'd recommend speaking to an accountant. You'll also need to get an ABN if you haven't already.
If there was one last thing I'd recommend, it'd be speak to your partner and consider your relationship. If it's strong and you know you're meant to be together for the long haul, consider putting the business in only one persons name, so if the worst case scenario happens (which really is bankruptcy), only one of you is majorly affected. Realise this will take a toll on your relationship as any high stress environment will do. Consider if your relationship is strong enough to endure the tough times.
Good luck, it's a very big step to take. For some people it works out, and for some it doesn't. But at the end of the day if you take the leap, at the very least you're going to have the biggest learning experience of your life :)
In my opinion, you can never make a bad decision - it will always be the right one at the time.