azcazandco

Business Gateway & business plans

July 20th, 2006

For those of you that don’t know what I am up to, I got made redundant recently so have been picking up the slack with some freelance work which has been fun and I am away to go and actually put a front to my business. I really like the sound of running my own business and doing it for myself although I ain’t gonna lie, I have a wife to be and 2 kids to look out for so the money thing is kinda necessary!

I have a meeting tomorrow morning with a Business Gateway advisor to bash about some ideas and make sure I am going through the right channels. I am quite excited about the whole thing and have decided to give myself a new routine to give myself the best chance of being productive and getting things done. I have decided to try and be started on my computer for 7am each day so that I can get a good 2 and a bit hrs of solitude on my computer getting some hardcore work done!

Anyway, I possibly have a few good leads in the pipeline and am looking to continue building up business and mutually beneficial relationships, I am a big fan of back scratch networking as it means everyone gets a little benefit and it isn’t just one sided.

So… I now have to go and thrash out the cash so to speak and come up with a viable business plan and all associated bumf, I’d imagine that I will have some fun whilst doing it as I am genuinely interested in all aspects of what I do. One of the reasons I am writing this post is so that I can maybe learn from other peoples mistakes and maybe get some advice from others on the do’s and don’ts of going into business.

I’m not sure I want to go down the studio front and open up a web shop, I don’t think I need to and besides, there is bound to be way to much overheads associated with it. I do realise that it raises the bar and that it would be good to have a dedicated environment to work in but I would rather get my loft sorted out and get my studio set up in my own house. It looks like I am possibly going to manage to go down the contractor route or just working freelance from home or even on placement in other studios so I am quite happy with that, I just need to translate this into a business plan.

I know what I can do, I have toyed with the whole idea for years now as I am always working on something, why not work on it for myself? I like the idea of taking control of my destiny but I also see a darker side looming in the sides waiting to pounce. The balance of work and family life! I have been there before where I have been working on things for little or no money, trying to get portfolio work together, knowing that you have to do everything within your power to do as much as you can to further your opportunites but then I have other people that need me in this house too.

Life doesn’t stop just because I have a business to run, so how do you take a really positive thing and harness it to make more positives? I don’t want this to be a negative experience in any way whatsoever so I want to make sure do things the right way and make sure that both me and the people around me are happy. After all when you take your destiny in your hands, you should then be able to build a custom life solution that’ll make you rich, make you happy and give you enough time to shower love and affection on those that are around you and need you in their life…

I guess I have some planning ahead…