Welcome back!
Ok, I’ve been diddling around refreshing my skills and learning new stuff and now I’m almost at the point where I can offer to do stuff for other people and get my business going. YEE HAR!
So I sat down today and thought what do I need to trade? A business bank account would be a good start! lol
Now I’m a simple creature and know that the people I already bank with, Abbey, are offering a great free business banking deal as long as I’m in credit. The only downside of this is that I won’t have a business bank manager and I know building a relationship in person is PRICELESS but I need to start somewhere and figure I can move when I’ve got a proven track record.
So I downloaded the application form off the website and started to fill it in… hmmm… my business address.
As a sole trader working from home, I’ve got four choices:
1. Use my home address
2. Use a PO Box
3. Rent office space
4. Use a virtual office
I don’t really want to use my home address as, well, it’s my home and I have heard stories of people just turning up on doorsteps at odd times – not great, especially with kids in the house.
A PO Box doesn’t appeal to me as it just looks plain dodgy and very unprofessional in my opinion.
I don’t have the budget to rent office space and as I won’t be receiving clients as I work online, this would be an unnecessary expense.
So I was thrilled to discover the concept of a virtual office.
For a fee I can use their address, they receive my mail and then either forward it to me at a frequency of my choice, pick it up in person, or they will open, scan and email it to me.
Doing some research I found that prices vary greatly – I would like the flexibility of being able to collect stuff but discovered that my local business centre wanted £120+VAT pcm… OUCH! a huge outgoing for a startup on a shoestring like me.
With a lot more digging I came across www.LondonPresence.com – part of the Made Simple Group which, like the others, also offers telephone services, as well as other office support services and meeting facilities – a great service at an amazing price too!
After all that though, I realised that I just need to DO something and stop fussing over detail – worryingly I’m starting to hear Nicola’s voice in my head now hahahaha. So I stuck my home address down and used my mobile number as my business phone contact and popped round the corner to my branch (after hunting for my driving license for AN HOUR arrrgh!) and am feeling VERY smug that I completed at least one of my tasks today. YAY!
By the way – for GREAT information on what you need to do when starting up a new business, check out BusinessLink.gov.uk – here’ a shortened url to take you straight to the page I was looking at http://tinyurl.com/4o4p8o - loads of great free SIMPLE advice to get you doing stuff the right way from the word go.
