5 Tips To Survive In A Start Up Business

Is the end near for physical shops? Well it is certainly tough out there.

Meanwhile, Amazon sales were up over 40% in the first quarter of 2018. The online retailer made a profit of $1.6 billion.

Jeff Bezos became $12 billion richer on the basis of a 4% increase in the share price!

Mark Zuckerberg made $5 billion this week but Larry Page and Sergei Brin the owners of Google lost 2 billion - maybe it fell down behind the sofa?

Crazy figures that really relate to fluctuation the share price. I’m sure neither of these guys will be going out ordering new yachts or having a garage sale!

The news of online success comes on the back of failing High Street stores in London and the collapse of major chains like Toys R Us, Maplin and Carpetright.

So why am I telling all this? What is this got to do with money tips? The answer is that opening up shops in the High Street is highly risky for the new business person.

In my local area there are four major supermarkets sucking money out of the High Street and driving small retailers into the ground. Not content with that, they are also opening smaller 7-Eleven-style corner shop stores to pour more misery on the little guy who can only survive by running the business within the family and working 18 hours a day. Frankly, he would probably better off driving a bus.

Every year in my town I see more hopefuls open up a shop selling everything from smoothies, specialty ethnic groceries, restaurants, mobile phone cases to expensive bathrooms.

Before they open the doors they are incurring around £1000 per week in bottomline costs excluding staffing. That doesn’t include the cost of refurbishing the shop and buying stock. Not surprisingly, 95% of the shops are gone within a year or two. Even national companies have closed stores and restaurants, so what chance has a newby got?

Losing a business not the end of the misery for the owners of a failed shop. Most would’ve signed a long lease and personally guaranteed or signed a personal guarantee to pay the rent regardless of how the business goes. This means they will be paying for the premises even though the business is no longer running until such time as the shop has been relet Which can take months or even years.

If they fail to pay the landlord can take action against the former tenant and even force them into bankruptcy or take their house.

Under the terms of the lease, the landlord can also charge for dilapidations and the cost of refurbishing the shop or office premises.

I have been on the end of this treatment by greedy landlords try and charge for every scuff mark on the carpet, which is then replaced by the new tenant at no cost to the landlord.

Each year thousands of people start up businesses in the hope that they can improve their financial situation or become financially free. Unfortunately, over 90% of these businesses will fail within the first few years.

Here are 5 tips to survive in business

1. Keep costs under control

One of the main reasons businesses fail is through lack of sales or marketing, But costs play a significant part in their downfall.

I have found that if businesses can survive the first few years they have a good chance of going onto earning profits and succeeding in the long run.

One way of keeping down costs is to start the business from home, preferrably part-time to start with, rather than renting an office or shop premises.

2. Start Online

Starting an online business with little or no start-up costs gives you the chance to make money without risking your savings and your house. You can also run an online business in your spare time until you start making money without giving up your day job.

3. Build Your Business Before Opening a Shop

Is the High Street Cornershop days over? Not quite, but the market is going through significant changes. The old butcher, Baker, candlestick maker doesn’t cut it anymore. There are more and more estate agents, Hairdressers and nail bars taking up retail space.

If you want to have a retail business in the High Street, build it up first from home and then expand into a shop premises when you’re ready and there is proven demand for your products.

4. Write a business plan

Before you start any business Write a proper business plan and get legal and accountancy advice, as well as a cash flow forecast. Some banks will help you with this and there is online and offline advice avaialble. A plan can be a few pages of A4 and doesn’t need to be in elaborates 100 page document. The main thing is that you know what you want to achieve, how to achieve it, what it will cost and a forecast showing how much cash you need each month to run the business.

In my experience, most businesses just start get going without any form of business plan and then work it out as they go along. To be honest, I’ve done this myself, but it is not wise to fly by the seat of your pants. Do it the easy way And you will avoid sleepless nights and risking everything.

5. Build a Following

Building a following will separate you from the vast majority of your competitors who just start a business and hope that customers will come through the door. But you can hope and meditate and chant "om" all day long, but unless you do some marketing and build your following you will soon be out of business.

One of my mentors Russell Branson has written a fantastic book about building a following and tribe called Expert Secrets. Russell has a special promo running for a limited time where he will give you the Expert Secrets book for free as long as you pay for the postage.

Grab a copy while stock lasts, it could change your life.

I can send you the link if you email me at Charles@CharlesKelly.net or check out our Facebook page which is www.facebook.com/moneytipsdaily

Litigation Can Bankrupt You So Be A Mediator Not A Litigator

Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money!

Avoid litigation. The well-known phrase "I'll see you in court" often ends in the bankruptcy court or losing your house to pay legal costs, which can run into millions.  Not only is litigation costly in terms of legal fees, but it can also take up an awful lot of time and energy, and literally drain you emotionally.

I once got involved in a dispute over a £500 unfair charge by a freeholder on a leasehold flat I owned. To cut a long story short, they kept escalating to so-called ‘costs’, like a game of poker, and we ended up going to court, but by this time they were claiming £14,000! 

The case took two years of my life fighting this small dispute. In the end, with the help of a great city barrister, who charged me £2000 upfront, I won the case and got my legal costs back. However, in reality I had lost hundreds of hours of my time, energy and sleepless nights.

At all costs, avoid going to court and use arbitration services, ombudsman or just common sense to settle disputes. Sometimes you just need to talk! 

Courts and Judges are notoriously fickle and you can never guarantee which way a case will go. Barristers know that if you upset a Judge, for instance by arguing or not submitting papers on time, the case could go against you. 

In the case of smaller disputes over charges you think you are incorrect, it is sometimes better to pay the charge and dispute it after (obviously not in the case of a dodgy builder who has just messed up your kitchen) . This especially applies to utility companies, banks and credit card companies, who have an unfair advantage over us in that they can register a late payment or default against us which will damage or credit rating, without even going to court.  

Bonus tip. Add legal expenses insurance to your household and motor insurance. It is usually very inexpensive and could save you a lot of money.

Action...Be a mediator not a litigator.

Check out my Podcast episode "Avoid Litigation Be A Mediator Not A Litigator " on Anchor! https://anchor.fm/charles-kelly/episodes/Avoid-Litigation-Be-A-Mediator-Not-A-Litigator-e1632k

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The Reason Why Property Is The Best Investment

Does It Matter If Property Prices Fall? Find Out Why You Should Care

UK House Prices Fall Leaving First-Time Buyers And Buy-to-Let Investors Wondering Where The Market Is Heading

New HMO Letting Rules Could Drive Landlords Out Of The Buy-To-Let Property Market

Leverage Your Time and Build a Profitable Online Business - Free Book Offer

How to Sell Unwanted Goods and Build a Profitable Online Business Without a Website

Hello and welcome to Money Tips Daily.

You can also listen to this article on my podcast on Anchor FM.

Yesterday we talked about the sharing economy and turning your spare room into cash.

If you’re not in a position to take in a guest, another way of generating some extra cash is to sell unwanted goods online. There are numerous websites like Amazon, Gumtree and Ebay which can help you turn old stuff into cash and it could turn into to an online business. You also get to clear space in your home!

We all have those unused exercise bikes and guitars taking up space which could be turned into cash. There are also unopened presents, books and CDs which can be sold online. With Amazon you can even scan the barcode to generate an image on your seller site.

You don’t only have to sell your own stuff online. Millions of people have built a business selling online through platforms such as EBay and AmazonSeller. You no longer have to rent a shop in the High Street to have a storefront. An online business can be set up for a very small amount of money with none of the risks associated with signing a lease, paying upfront rent and employing staff.

You don’t even need to have your own product or a traditional website to start your business. You can become an affiliate marketer and sell other peoples products for a commission. There are sites like Clickbank which offer thousands of products for affiliates to promote.

Like some traditional high street ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses, old style websites are becoming a thing of the past.

When I started my business years ago, everybody said you needed to have a fancy website. We spent a small fortune setting up a website and then waited for people to visit it. When someone did visit, they’d have a quick look around and leave (we only found that out much later by setting up analytics tools). It was a bit like somebody walking into a shop, having a quick look around and walking out before anyone has a chance to talk to them.

There are of course a number of ways of catching people’s attention and capturing their name and email address, but this requires IT skills and expertise. I hired IT consultants, went on courses and bought expensive online “solutions” most of which were pretty useless. I had almost given up which I stumbled across a book by a guy called Russell Brunson, the founder of a company called ‘Clickfunnels’. The book is called Expert Secrets and it is packed full of great information but written in a simple, engaging way with lots of stories and examples of how to build a following and make money online. Best of all, he actually gives away the book for FREE if you pay the shipping costs.

Russell has revolutionised online selling through Clickfunnels, which makes the flat brochure-type website all but redundant.

You can find out more and get a free copy of Russell’s book Expert Secrets by clicking here or cut and paste this link into your browser - http://bit.ly/2EOzK8f.