Start Business Advice

Your Question
I want to start a market stall for fashion clothing?
My Partner wants to have a market stall selling fashion clothing, I have tried searching the web for ideas of where to get stock from but i really just get snowed under with foreign sites selling tacky stuff, I am looking for good wholesalers in the london area, I have tried asking the market stall holders but they are obviously very tight lipped thinking that we are going to tread on there toes, but this is not the case we are based more midlands and we have no decent clothes shops or stalls here and we can see potential can anybody give me some ideas of suppliers PLEASE

I am thinking about creating, a free to use, web consultancy group. The website will be aimed paticularly at user’s/business/voluntary groups that could benefit from a website, but have no idea where to start!

We will provide info on getting on the web (buying domains, good hosting etc), info on how to customize/design a website, and other good opportunities that exist within other web applications.

We could always have sub-website/s, for example a web-hosting listings page.

If you think this is a good, valuable idea that people will apprechiate, and you have some ideas as to how we could start to get noticed/free advertising methods as we would be not-for-profit, i would love to hear from you!

Also, if you have any catchy, easy-to-remember and sensible ideas for a name of the group and a suitable domain, make your suggestions known here!

Cheers in advance, jamie.

I really would like to start a business but the big problem is how?.
I come from a very poor family which in social class is called "The poor" acording to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class#Determinants_of_class_position.
I first best tell of my past.

My family earns way below £11,000 ayear that is between 4 people under 1 roof, the house is from the council and is rented.We have no savings what so ever and only 2 bedrooms which means i have to share even doe i am the age of 21 with my brother who is 20. I have a mental illness which pervents me from leaving the house.
My parents have a very bad credit which even doe thay have pay’d theres bills ontime for the last 6 years with no contracts like mobie phones etc and do not apply for loans etc they still cant even get a basic tv package to watch sky tv.
At the moment we can’t even aford a fridge frezzer so now we are starving as the food expires very fast, the cheapest we have seen is £179.00 to us that is a pipe dream.
To top things off my dad is now ill so he no longer can work, my mother is being bullied at work by the boss and also is close to state retirement age.

I feel very dispressed as i cant do anything to make some money, all the time i hear about people making huge amounts of money by starting a business, i have done lots of research on the web/books/articles for the last year and still not found how to start. I did try a ebay but that failed very fast and ebay even closed one of the accounts for no reason.

My edcation is rather poor in my mind even doe my family says im so "smart" just because i can use a computer(rather poor at it).
The school i went to had major problems teaching people and in the end of my last year 90% of students got F just like me very few got C and 2 people i heard got a A.
I tryed so hard to learn in scholl as i was the quite type and even had special help in school so i did not miss around. It was not easy to learn as the other kids was so noisy and shouting all the time.
I was even put in a group by the teachers called lets make friends as they thought i had no friends( i had a few).

I must do something to change my life, i come here asking were and how can i start a business with very little cash, no expence , and mosty no idea how.
My life is geting to the point and which i just want to go a sleep and die, because no matter how much me and my family trys bad luck will hit us hard.

Any ideas in which i can do somthing to make some money?.

I have had this idea, and wondered if you would provide feedback please? As a small business owner would you use this agency?

-Approximately 40% cheaper than using a small, local-based web design agency
-Your site is project managed by a locally based experienced project manager/ website designer in the UK
-Face-to-face meetings are available when required with our experience UK project manager / website designer
- The site is coded and designed in India
- your site is project managed and quality controlled until you are 100% satisfied – by the project manager/ website designer you meet face to face.

Summary

The client experience will be exactly the same, as using a standard locally based web designer; but will cost approximately 40% less.

Thanks. Would you use this agency?

Hello,
I am looking to get back into programming as I really enjoyed it at uni in Cape Town and now have a few business ideas I’d like to try in the UK. I’m a bit out of the game over the last few years and I need some advice as to software. Requirements are: A. It must be legal for commercial, small business (profit) use, B. It will be used in development by no more than 4 programmers

I plan to use one server with some redundancy built in; now should I have a standalone with windows server 2008 r2 installed along with SQL Server 2008 r2 installed? Which version of each based on the above requirements as there are so many choices with vastly different prices (I will be using 64-bit)? I plan to use web forms and ASP.net 4.0 so should I use visual studio 2010 professional edition or should I be looking at premium for more than one programmer? Or in fact is there a cheaper version I can use for commercial employment given that it’s ASP.net I want and not all the application tools that vs.net offers?

Many thanks for any help you can offer.
Cheers,
Lynton

Jamie Harwood was still in his twenties when he set up his business, UK Web Media. Within five years the turnover for the business was around £10m.

Jamie’s first idea for a website was www.marriagegiftslist.com "My uncle was getting married and the invitation listed three or four wedding gift list. I thought it would be nice to have something online, consolidated in just one place."

But starting an on-line business required money. When Harwood asked his family for financial backing, they refused, so he took out a £7000 bank loan. His website, which still exists, flourished, although it did not make him rich – but the experience led him to found UK Web Media in 2002. This business helps larger firms to advertise effectively on the internet.

Harwood says "The key is to have confidence in what you do and know what you do. My biggest tip is to find something you really, really enjoy. If you enjoy it the fruits of your labour will follow."

1. Why do you think that Jamie’s family refused to lend him money, but the bank consented?
2. Why do you think he asked for a bank loan rather than extending his overdraft?
3. What do you think are the key factors that will determine the success of Jamie’s business?

Hi

We plan to provide a high street mailing address in a small shop in our local town, around 70,000 popular, with many surrounding less well known twons and villages.

Mailboxes etc are one of the fastest growing franchises in europe and I believe the world.

The mailboxes would by accessable 24 hours a day, secure, personal and business boxes, and most importantly a office sounding address. i.e. " Ashley House" so say 124 Ashley House, town Name, Kent, D…..

We will offer mail redirection aswell and a very small fee..

The business box idea is to provide a professional sounding address to those who can’t afford a office etc and work from home. Or indeed online businesses that don’t want to use their home address.

We would also provide photocopying/faxing along with access to Web and graphic design services.

We wold start with 100 mailboxes mixed personal and business.

We would love to franchise this ourselves one day.

Any ideas or oppionions would be very mush appreciated.
Sorry just make clear we would not be starting a ‘Mailboxes etc’ franchise, I was just sayin that there must be something in it, as its so popular.

Its our own business offering slightly different services but mainly concentraing on the mail box aspect.

Hey,
I am adept at making websites, using scripting languages such as PHP, JavaScript, MySql & HTML and I would like to start a small on-line business or even just make a good website – what ever it happens to be, my aim is to attract many visitors! My problem is that I do not really know where to start: should I for instance, look for a new idea, something that no one has thought of on the Internet? Or should I maybe reinvent something all ready out there?

Any ideas will help and all thoughts will be very much appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Josh,

I want to start my own business but can’t decide on a specific product. I love being creative with arts and crafts and it would be great to be able to make a living from this in the future. Any ideas what product would be cheapest to make? Are there any product specific ways of selling on the web, or any organisations around? Thank you

My name is Mark. I am a creative practice BA Honours degree graduate of Newcastle college. Specialising in Graphic, Editorial and Web Design.

Since completing my degree this May I have had some time out and have tried a couple of full time jobs in fields other than that my degree is in. In this time I have had some thinking time, and have decided to give an idea I had throughout my Degree a real shot.

I have always wanted to one day run my own magazine. My intentions originally were to work for an existing magazine for some added experience and contacts, but have found since leaving University that there is no work outside London.

I do not however want this setback to stop me from achieving my eventual goal. Therefor I intend to take on board every ounce of advice that is available to me.

I have never done anything like this, and although i have the editing skills, The business and startup side of things I have no idea about. Some of my questions may sound ridiculous for me not to know, but please don’t judge me. I really am lost and need help with a direction for my idea.

1. Where do I start?
2. How many people is realistic to start up the magazine?
3. How is it funded from the start?
4. How do free magazines fund the staff wages and printing etc?
5. How do you sell advertising space in your magazine?
6. What is the going rate of advertising space in magazines?
7. Who would print and bind the magazine?
8. How do you fund mass batches?
9. Once you have a full magazine, its printed, its bound and its in boxes in your living room…… how do you get it on the shelves in the supermarkets, news agents and WH Smiths.
10. How do you advertise your magazine?

Any answers to these queries would be greatly appreciated. And/or anyone interested in joining me in my dream please get in touch.

wilsonmarkalan@yahoo.co.uk