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Colley614

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Hi Guys,

I've recently been accepted for a new business scheme. I get a £250 grant to do market research, I get help with a business plan and cash flow forecast and then I can apply for funding. The funding I can get is up to £7500 with 25% of it being a grant and the rest a loan to get started then after six months I can apply for up to £30k with 25% of that being a grant and the rest is a loan. Do you think its worth going for?

 
Do you need the money?

Do you really want to be in debt.?

If you dont mind me being noisy how much do you make on averedge a month? Not looking for an exact figer

 
My turnover at the moment is somewhere around £650 a month.

I wouldn't just take the money for the sake of money but if someone on here had a good idea for investing the money in my business then I'd consider it

 
My turnover at the moment is somewhere around £650 a month.

I wouldn't just take the money for the sake of money but if someone on here had a good idea for investing the money in my business then I'd consider it
Click to expand...
How long have you been trading mate, sorry for all the questions but it will help me give a bit of advice. well what I would do in your situation

 
I started back up in May-June.
Click to expand...
I wouldnt bother with a loan just yet, still early days.

My advice would be:

Take up every bit of free advertisement you can. No matter how small it is

Canvass as much as you can.

Leave business cards in all your local shops, with a flyer in the window

If you have a facebook page, make a business page and post it in all your local ''for sale groups''

Sign up for google+

Post add on gumtree, make sure your title is ''Window cleaners(ing) in YOUR AREA''

Do a leaflet drop if you havent, I didnt have much success with window cleaning service but pulled a few jobs from my other services.

Ask all your friends/family to chage there window cleaner to you if they already havent.

After 3-4 months if you dont have much luck, by all means get a loan.

This worked for me not saying it will for you but a loan is a last resort option in my opinion

 
I agree, I've done most of the things listed.

I'm just thinking about getting a better van and system. I worried my van may be on it's last legs and then spending some money advertising

 
I agree, I've done most of the things listed.

I'm just thinking about getting a better van and system. I worried my van may be on it's last legs and then spending some money advertising
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A van wont get you more business though, It not going to increase revenue. Put you van in for a service and find out?

 
What I mean is I've got an escort with a 250 litre system. I was thinking of upgrading to a transit with a 650 and advertising for big commercials

 
What I mean is I've got an escort with a 250 litre system. I was thinking of upgrading to a transit with a 650 and advertising for big commercials
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Your 250 litre should b enough to clean this in a month? you shouldnt need a bigger tank... Yet...

Concentrate on getting a a decent income, then go for he bigger stuff.... crawl before you walk sort of thing? lol

From what Ive read and seen people have made this mistake, Commercial jobs are hard to come by. There usealy tied in to a contract for 1-3 years. Some times longer.

 
Why not mate, but j think it's a very long process and you have to have a solid business plan and a good head for paperwork, I was talking to one of civvy street employees for hours on the phone and found out I have £6000 to spend on courses with my ELC

 
To be honest Paul I feel I should at least apply for something. I've been out the Army about 10 years now and have nothing to show for it apart from my house my wife and children and I could have had this being in the Army. Career wise I was MD'd from the Army, was in a room with a doctor on a Friday and was basically told "You've been on the sick for 6 months now and I can't see you returning to service in the near future. If I sign this paperwork your a civvie and I can make a note that when your fit and well we'd love to have you back." I decided to get myself discharged and came home. Walked in the job centre with all my paper work thinking I was what every employer wants, an ex squaddie only to be told that they hand out all the same qualifications to new deal applicants. That really done my head in, 3 years service for the same qualifications as a bum. The Army never told me I could have anything, just took my 1157 off me and handed me a red book and that was it. I've kind of drifted from dead end job to dead end job until the day I was fit to re apply. By this time I had my wife and 2 kids, I had massive arguments with my wife but finally got her head round the idea that the forces was the way ahead. So I started going out running got myself pretty fit and applied for the commandos. I got a letter back, not from the Navy but from MOD central saying that due to my previous service history there was no position available to me in the armed forces. There was me ready to go on the front line in Afghanistan and they just brushed me away. It was only the other day I found out about the be the boss scheme and the guy who will be my mentor told me I am entitled to apply for courses so I could have got a trade in civvy street. I feel this lack of comm's has wasted 10 years of my life.

 
I wouldnt bother with a loan just yet, still early days.

My advice would be:

Take up every bit of free advertisement you can. No matter how small it is

Canvass as much as you can.

Leave business cards in all your local shops, with a flyer in the window

If you have a facebook page, make a business page and post it in all your local ''for sale groups''

Sign up for google+

Post add on gumtree, make sure your title is ''Window cleaners(ing) in YOUR AREA''

Do a leaflet drop if you havent, I didnt have much success with window cleaning service but pulled a few jobs from my other services.

Ask all your friends/family to chage there window cleaner to you if they already havent.

After 3-4 months if you dont have much luck, by all means get a loan.

This worked for me not saying it will for you but a loan is a last resort option in my opinion
Click to expand...

I like

 
Dont go for a loan mate u will regret it

Getting a loan will make u even more lazy ! trust me /emoticons/tongue.png

Knock on doors and knock and knock and knock until u get over a grand a month income mate /emoticons/smile.png then once your earning.. just drop about 1,000 flyers a week.. and work will still come in steadily /emoticons/smile.png

And before u know it ull have 300 customers odd /emoticons/wink.png

 
I get my leaflets on the 28th. 20k, I'm going to bend over backwards to get them out in a month, Hopefully 30 days after this I should start picking up some real good amounts of work. I am going to speak to these people and take the £250 and probably get another 20k leaflets and get them out in a month. The last drop I did was 2000 I was hoping for 8 £10 job with £80 on them. I ended up with 2 £10 jobs and 2 £20 jobs so that £60 not quite as good as I was hoping for but it's only 4 weeks since the drop. One area I did I never heard anything for a month and then got 4 jobs in with a month worth £55

 

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