Taking the plunge - New business

[BeTheChange]

So decided that at the very least I am taking a long leave of absence to pursue my business venture and possibly quitting depending on how things go.

I performed a reasonably fair cash flow projection for the first year based on my current list of clients, market research, business development and my expectations once the website goes live and it sees me make earnings that would be equivalent to a pre tax income of over £100,000 ($155,000).

Not bad for a 25 year old.

My main goals are getting the website up and then aggressive business development from there.

I'm also a chartered accountant so if the business fails I will not starve. This takes away so much of the risk that might give other people sleepless nights. It means that so far I've been finding this business venture so much fun.

Watch this space.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

What type of business is it?

 

[BeTheChange]

I provide business consulting, accounting, tax and advisory services to SMEs, startups and high net worth individuals.

I am also trying to branch out into the provision of training courses in finance, accountancy and economics and further down the line (if the client list allows) conference producing.

To be honest I'm just happy that I will have more time to do more interesting things than my current rat race job like reading and going to the gym.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

That's good. That's right down my alley as I have a degree in Accounting. Good luck with your business.

 

[Gusaldo]

Have you got your website up and running?

 

[BeTheChange]

I am fully booked on client work until next weekend but I'm going to (hopefully) have the whole weekend to spend developing the website and getting something up.

 

[BeTheChange]

Spent all weekend doing client work and figuring out the optimal structure for my group.

Likely going to set up another company, a not for profit charity for tax purposes.

Part of what my current company does is offering training courses to students and professionals. The charity will essentially offer the same thing for people who would otherwise not be able to afford it achieving the charitable aim of "educating the less fortunate" and ticking the necessary boxes in the process.

The aim is to use the charity to purchase the share capital of my current company and my current business would then operate as the charity's subsidiary trading company. Any profits from the subsidiary will be donated to the parent and I should hopefully (legally) avoid any tax on my earnings. Then any excess group profit can be invested by the charity into shares, property, mutual funds, etc which according to HMRC is all perfectly legal.

I need to run this by a tax accountant but as my charity will be legit (I'm genuinely quite passionate about this area) I should be ok.

 

[BeTheChange]

After a few months I've realised that although the business is doing well it's not scaleable enough to justify sacrificing my career for.

I'm spending less time on the business but still notching up around 10 hours of revenue generating work per week in addition to my actual job.

I've realised that any chance of making serious money is going to come from tech.

My plan is now as follows:

(1) Apply for some junior business advisory roles that focus on tech

(2) Work at one of these places for a few years and then exit to a private equity or VC firm that invests in tech startups or growth companies in the tech world

(3) Use the experience and connections in this industry to land a strategic or operational senior role in the next big tech investment, for example Spotify 3 years ago.

(4) Get paid in shares and exit on the IPO

(5) Play golf and attend industry conferences, pay Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in ballers to manage my money


Right now I have interviews with several mid market advisory firms so hopefully the odds are in my favour. Fingers crossed.

 

[BeTheChange]

Glad this thread is still around.

I decided not to pursue the business full time and instead focus on my job hunt. That meant I didn't quite make the projected earnings numbers. I still made a decent amount given I was probably averaging 3 hours a week over the last few months.

I've since found a new role I'm happy with. Sitting down with the boss, the expectation is that I'll be a "Manager" within the next 18 months. It's a great role and I'm able to use a lot of the skills I'm developing in marketing my business and creating new service offerings. The hours are quite good too which going forward, should allow me to focus more on my business. Fortunately there's no conflicts as the clients I will go for as a business owner are likely to be small owner managers and SMEs so don't really operate in the same space as my employer.

My business is doing quite nicely overall.

I secured a $30,000 contract from a single client for work between May and September.

In addition to that, based on my current client list I anticipate another $100,000 in revenue over the next 12 months and that's without doing any real marketing or business development beyond what I'm doing now. I regard this as semi guaranteed as it reflects current client sentiment and my history of reccuring work.

Expansion

Where I really see growth is in some of the high value services I intend to start offering. I don't currently have any employees beyond a part time PA but if I get this kind of work in then I will hire contractors and eventually full time employees to help manage the workflow. As this progresses I want to be able to focus more on the business development, client relationships and winning new work.

This is all part of my 18 month plan and I ties in with the "Manager" promise at my current role. If I don't make Manager in my current role then I will strongly consider taking on the business full time and I would like the business to be in a position where this is possible. If I do make "Manager" then I'd still consider this option. It would just provide a greater layer of security, since if I chose to re-enter the job market I could command a higher salary. I'm not going to lie. Having a full time job and managing and growing a business won't be easy. I know I can say goodbye to most of my weekends and a lot of personal life, but hopefully it will be worth it.

 

[BeTheChange]

Business is going well. It's very cash generative and I am loaning the excess cash in the business to an investment company(s).

Made one property investment and looking into several others. Also intend to use some of the excess cash in sports arbitrage trading. I will start small but once I've made over a hundred trades I will put some real capital in. However I have decided to put now more than 10% of my assets in arb betting in case it all blows up.