Pilot's Logs

All Change

Posted Tue, 09/03/2010 - 10:49 by Sparkatrician

Hi All,
I've not been on this site for a long time, too long. Been meaning to come and post but never made the time (Bad me) read more »

Week 6 Test Your Pitch.

Posted Mon, 08/03/2010 - 10:44 by gemblags

Hi I have had an atempt at writing the one page pitch of my idea:

I will develop a company offering a variety of personal development and training opportunities to young people aged 16- 30. The training will be offered in short taster courses or accredited courses, where the participants can gain a qualification through the open college network. I will also offer one to one personal development and life coaching sessions if required. read more »

Help with my Projected Sales Forcast in Year One for Fashion Design Business

Posted Wed, 17/02/2010 - 14:11 by jgnylon83

Hi there

I was wondering if anyone knows how to do a projected sales forcast for womenswear in year one for my fashion design business.

I have no idea, please help. Many Thanks

Searching Fashion Design Studio to rent in London

Posted Fri, 19/02/2010 - 15:37 by jgnylon83

I am looking for a premises to base my fashion design business in London.

Would be interested in sharing space to start with others. A cutting table in the studio would be ideal too.

Please get in touch.

How do i set up my own fashion clothing label

Posted Wed, 17/02/2010 - 17:54 by jgnylon83

Hi everyone,

I have decided to set up my own fashion label which I will cut and design myself. As a trained fashion student,it has also been a goal of mine for some time and that day has come.

Any advice or input would be great, from suppliers, manufacturing, raising finance to organisations who help small fashion start-up company's.

Week 3

Posted Mon, 08/02/2010 - 23:16 by mburrluck

Have just been investigating my time and money - wow, you don't realise what you spend money & time on until you actually see it written down.

Have also asked for my credit ratings and downloaded the Business link guides, so that leaves the rest of the week to think about my knowledge, skills, people I know and mentor's!!

Happy days!!

Going again... Take 2

Posted Mon, 01/02/2010 - 21:47 by Sarah Fidd

Starting to get back on track.. Couple of promising verbal leads that need to be followed up.

Back to the ongoing issue.. what about a company name ??

Big question.. ironing or reading some more chapters..

What do you reckon ?

:-)

Oops - originally added this as a comment to my own blog (doh !)

Retail Therapy

Posted Wed, 27/01/2010 - 15:20 by bluebell

I am going to set up a clothes business online & see how well it works, there is a global market out there in cyber-space!

Starting a Plumbing Business

Posted Mon, 25/01/2010 - 14:11 by sargeman

Hi there,

I am new to this site and new to the idea of becoming my own boss.
I have been a Plumbing and Heating Engineer for 17 years but only recently decided to start my own business. I am really hoping there will be other people on this site who have either done it, or like me - thinking of doing so.
I am interested to know how other people have gone about it and what the next step for me is.
Thank you,

Steve.

Been to Busines Link Meeting

Posted Wed, 20/01/2010 - 16:20 by Sarah Fidd

Went to a Business Link meeting on Tuesday about "Foundation for Success", was quite useful. Lots of info on Business Case etc.

Would recommend wading through their web site, there is lots of info if you take the time.

Kinda stalled a bit at the moment.. I am getting "hung up" on Market research and thinking about Brand / Company name.. although I haven't read to that point in the book yet.. (Yes I am one of those people who reads the last page of the book..).

Need to get my but off the sofa, and doing something else...

Week 5: Find and Develop an Idea

Posted Mon, 18/01/2010 - 15:30 by lmr1896

I sat down with my partner last night and had a huge brainstorming session, trying to come up with a viable business idea.

After discussing three or four different ideas, we began to wonder why I wasn't considering going into the chocolate industry - we'd been talking about chocolate amongst a group of our friends on Saturday night and, apparently, my eyes were lit up and they couldn't stop me talking! read more »

Week 4: Start Learning and Start Work

Posted Mon, 18/01/2010 - 11:39 by lmr1896

Today I've had a brief look at local banks and accountants, and think I might stay with Barclays, as I have a personal account with them and have a good relationship with the staff there. As for accountants, my partner has agreed to help me for free for the time being, to save money until my business is established and growing. He's a qualified accountant, which means that I will get to learn how the accounts for the business should be done.

Week 3: Where Are You Now?

Posted Mon, 18/01/2010 - 11:16 by lmr1896

I've been looking at where I am now, and am surprised to see how much time I waste doing nothing! As I don't have a job at the moment, I will be able to devote a lot of time to running a business - I just hope that I won't be too easily distracted by working at home.

I also feel very fortunate in knowing some very useful people: my partner is a qualified accountant who runs a manufacturing business with his mother and younger brother, while my friends include a marketing consultant, a lawyer, an architect and the proprietor of a small chocolate shop. read more »

Week 2: Think About Your Dreams

Posted Mon, 18/01/2010 - 10:13 by lmr1896

I've been thinking long and hard about where I want myself to be in five years' time, and have decided that I want to achieve the following:

1) To earn £12,000 per year
2) To be completely free of any personal debt
3) To start studying towards a Business Studies degree
4) To begin fulfilling my ambition of visiting every Olympic host city
5) To be independent, and have a place of my own. read more »

Week 1: Starting Up

Posted Mon, 18/01/2010 - 08:33 by lmr1896

A new decade, a new start...

I've been inspired by my partner to join flyingstartups.co.uk and take a serious look at starting up in business by myself. read more »

start

Posted Sun, 17/01/2010 - 22:35 by jkeogh

Sunday 17th january,

Been to lunch with nan and john and jo...

starting to read "start your business week by week" by steve parks, has led me to

this stage...

Planning for the next week.

Ground zero

Posted Wed, 13/01/2010 - 13:50 by Sarah Fidd

Given up on the economy ! Have spent the past year, in and out of employment. Final straw was when my employment lasted only 7 weeks before ending. I've had an idea, and the passion bubbling away for more than 2 years now, so I am going to jump !

Starting up a business to support small high end dentists with all their nasty paperwork.. The Gov't is creating lots of legislation which people will have to comply with, so I'm going to use that to my advantage.  read more »

The story so far....

Posted Mon, 11/01/2010 - 21:05 by tookers

Hello 2010...

Well it's been a while, 2 months... Although I haven't necessarily been reading through the book and doing the 'homework' so to speak, I have made alot of progress in setting up the infrastructure for my business. By infrastructure I mean the core IT systems that will essentially 'power' the beast that is my 'new-age' Web Service :-)
I now feel like something is happening, keeping myself busy and watching everything come together is pretty damn exciting!

:-)

vladimirmagic's picture

New social networking website

Posted Tue, 08/12/2009 - 07:58 by vladimirmagic

Although I am running my own company for a few years, recently I have decided to change a direction, and venture into online products/services opposed to bespoke software development service. Those ventures can be looked at as separate businesses, and they require new skills. One of them is a social networking / community site, I will probably write about most. I think this topic is related to everyone, as many, even small web sites, now trying go build some user base, and increase user stickiness by introducing blogs, discussion forums etc...

Focusing on Priorities

Posted Tue, 10/11/2009 - 22:14 by HarringtonPatricia

Most students are trapped between doing works for minor and major subjects.
Do you find that minor subjects have been giving you more trouble than your major subjects? While you do need to accomplish the course, professors are sometimes just too demanding. You are studying engineering, yet your history professor keep bugging you that history is just as important. Well, it is important to know history and all that brouhaha but professors should not pressure students so much on minor subjects. In this case, you are studying to become an engineer, not a historian or a history professor. read more »

superusermatt's picture

credit reports

Posted Tue, 10/11/2009 - 17:23 by superusermatt

Hi people am at chapter 3 as i'm sure you already know!

Just regarding the credit reports am just wondering how much people pay for them, the book advises against signing up for anything above £2 and that the companies will try and sign you up for more, as they naturally would, but don't know if the book has become inaccurate with age. looking like about £4 per month. if anyone can tell me if that's good or bad that would be fantastic! Thanks!

Week 3

Posted Sun, 08/11/2009 - 17:57 by tookers

After weeks of not being able to get the time to get onto week 3, here I am. The reality of my week schedule... almost 75% of my week is work work work. Not necessarily a bad thing, I keep in my mind that my day job is not hindering my pursual of running my own business, but merely building up my skills and confidence to know that I will succeed!

I've never worried about the financial aspect of my business, initial investment will be minimum... based on my ideas they require very little finance to get going, they are very time consuming however!

can I do it?

Posted Mon, 26/10/2009 - 13:54 by alan1961

I havent been posting here much, well if the truth be told noting for 22 weeeks. My business should be up and running by now, but it's stalled. Everywhere I turn there's a brick wall. Probably the biggest hurdle isn't financial, nor planning, or accommodation, it's support.

I am finding that everybody around me (family) is well less than supportive here, and its just wearing me down. Not that the business isnt viable or a good idea, or I cant do it, there's just negativity all around me. read more »

Warm up

Posted Mon, 27/10/2008 - 10:32 by Guillaume Barlet

... Is it flying yet? At least it has definitely taken off ...

Today is he first day of a new beginning

Posted Tue, 29/09/2009 - 10:58 by dattaanita

I gave in my notice and ended my job recently. I have thought about running my own business for the past 3 years and have decided that being in the legal industry for the past 25 years wasnt doing it for me anymore.

I have now bought this book and have started to go through it and I hope that it will achieve many goals to help me on my way