Business plan for new tilers!!!! - TilersForums.co.uk | Tile Forums

**enduro** · 30-03-2008

I don't know if there is anybody on the forum who could help new tilers with a business plan. I think a lot of new tilers fail because they don't do one. Going self employed can be hard, so any advice to new tilers i think would really help. Do training school do buisness plans? think it would be a good bit of training if they did. Its all about managing your finances..So get your thinking heads on and any ideas please..

davy_G · 30-03-2008

PTS do a fair bit on buisness start up. Nothing really prepares you 'till you start doing monthly accounts yourself and having to live off the fruits of your work. We all have our own ways of maximising income yet minimising tax.

How did you fair Enduro, did you have any sort of plan or just give it a go. I must admit i knew what i had to clear each month but that is a long way short of any sort of plan!

**enduro** · 30-03-2008

I have always had my own business, never been employed learnt by my mistakes, but if you have a family, mortgage etc and leave full time employment then decide to go self employed you really need to do some sort of plan. Right im of to grout a floor on a sunday morning...the joys of being self employed, no 9 to 5 or monday to friday in this game

**grumpygrouter** · 30-03-2008

A business plan is much more than putting together a set of financial forcasts. To produce a plan properly would take several weeks or months. There is much market research to be done before you even put pen to paper!

Dave the business start up session that PTS do is nothing more than a very basic "how to keep records and promoting yourself" session. As you say once you start you realise how basic what they teach you is.

For any potential move in to self employment, anybody can go to various banks and get business plan templates which will give them guidance. As long as they realise each bank has it's own format as it is the information that would be required by that particular bank if you were looking for finance.

Grumpy

monty · 30-03-2008

I have a business plan template that was sent to me by business link..If anybody wants it PM me and i will email it to you..

Monty

meandmeonly · 06-04-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by monty

I have a business plan template that was sent to me by business link..If anybody wants it PM me and i will email it to you..

Monty

I'm trying to find the pm button but can't would someone be so kind as to tell me how to do it please?

**Sir Ramic** · 06-04-2008

click on the persons name and you will see an option to send a private message to that person

mz30 · 06-04-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by enduro

I think a lot of new tilers fail because they don't do one.

I agree with you enduro,some new tilers do fail when they don't have a buisness plan,we all need a decent clientelle base to survive and also a good accountant helps

But imho the main reason new tilers fail is because they cannot do the job ,i had a guy start with me towards the end of last year who looked the part big painted van with all he could do written on the side i.e marble,granite,terrazzo ,tanking e.t.c ,this guy came on site with me and proceeded to serate the back of each tile instead of serrating the wall ,now he had obviously spent a lot of money to look professional but was down the road after a day,god know's what he would have been lik doing some of the jobs he advertised on his van

Grace'sDad · 06-04-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by monty

I have a business plan template that was sent to me by business link..If anybody wants it PM me and i will email it to you..

Monty

Nice one Monty - I used Business Link's templates too and they were really useful. I'd recommend them, although I lost mine when my laptop died. One word of advice though - it's easy to get bogged down in an over-the-top plan. I never had to borrow any money from the bank so I kept it simple and spent extra time marketing etc.

Telmay · 08-04-2008

Hi all,

Had a break from the trades of 15 years and that ended five years back and worked in sales & marketing and business development and business plans do help you think and focus. They can be long and seem like a chore and often not all of the planning rules will apply to someone self employed, but it can be tailored to make sense.

I think a big issue with new people to trade is that they don’t respect that it takes about three years to get everything up and running with constant work. I find that a lot of people I talk to and trying to get into "trades" for all the wrong reasons. They have read adverts for schools and hype in the press, their backs are against the wall with credit and financial issues and see is at a lifeline to earning big bucks and getting them out of the mire!

But in reality we all now, mostly through bitter experience that a business will cost you money during start up and jobs can be very thin on the ground. Trouble is when your told you can earn £x pounds per annum what the employed don’t realise is that its not like a normal PAYE job and come the end of the month its not always pay day! Also your biggest enemy in the early days is cash flow, and it still catches you out once in a blue moon even when your established, you just now how to juggle better with experience.

There are all the hidden costs as well such as transport, tools, insurance, income protection, tax & NI, future training, advertising and marketing (probably missed a few too). When you paint the whole picture it looks like your trying to prevent people going for it, but its not that your trying to put a dampener on things just trying to give people a bit of realism.

**grumpygrouter** · 08-04-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telmay

Hi all,

Had a break from the trades of 15 years and that ended five years back and worked in sales & marketing and business development and business plans do help you think and focus. They can be long and seem like a chore and often not all of the planning rules will apply to someone self employed, but it can be tailored to make sense.

I think a big issue with new people to trade is that they don’t respect that it takes about three years to get everything up and running with constant work. I find that a lot of people I talk to and trying to get into "trades" for all the wrong reasons. They have read adverts for schools and hype in the press, their backs are against the wall with credit and financial issues and see is at a lifeline to earning big bucks and getting them out of the mire!

But in reality we all now, mostly through bitter experience that a business will cost you money during start up and jobs can be very thin on the ground. Trouble is when your told you can earn £x pounds per annum what the employed don’t realise is that its not like a normal PAYE job and come the end of the month its not always pay day! Also your biggest enemy in the early days is cash flow, and it still catches you out once in a blue moon even when your established, you just now how to juggle better with experience.

There are all the hidden costs as well such as transport, tools, insurance, income protection, tax & NI, future training, advertising and marketing (probably missed a few too). When you paint the whole picture it looks like your trying to prevent people going for it, but its not that your trying to put a dampener on things just trying to give people a bit of realism.

That could have been me typing Tel!