After working for over ten years in the audio installation business I decided to leave the firm I was working for and create my own business.
Although I knew everything about audio installation I knew very little about business. This is where Business Talents have been a great help. We have worked on financial forecasts and they have helped me understand the importance of business planning. Business is now looking good."

Brandon Buth
Buth Robinson

 
 

FAQs

Can I find a grant to start my business?
Sometimes depending on where you live. However, it is a myth that the government writes blank cheques to help people start businesses. Often a London business in a government target area can apply for up to a 15% refund on a major capital investment or a re-location. We will firstly look at how viable your business is and go from there. We can however access finance for training needs.

I have seen an adviser before and they were not very helpful why should I think you are going to be any different?
Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised by our approach. We tend to bring a lot of our own experiences of being a young business owner to sessions and like to think that we have more empathy than the average adviser.

All my family and friends think this is a great idea and I should go for it, what do you think?
Please do not confuse empathy with stroking your ego. Family and friends are there to back you up and encourage you. They are not the best people to analyse a business proposition. We have a policy of brutal honesty. Our role isn’t just to help you start a business but to talk you out of spending auntie’s inheritance on an idea we see as doomed to fail.

I want to start a business but I don’t know if I should be a limited company or a sole trader?
You have your priorities wrong I’m afraid. Your trading status, although an important issue is not the thing that should be keeping you up at night. The key things to think about are; does my service or product have a market and can I prove this? Then can you sell into that market at a price that will make you a profit. Only once we have this in place is any other issue worth looking at.

What is the thing I should spend the most time on when setting up my business?
Research. No-one ever spends enough time researching potential customers and their competition.

I need finance but I don’t know how much or where to start looking?
Firstly, we need to diagnose your business needs. We would then start to create a cash flow forecast with you making sure that your targets were realistic and achievable. We would then look at your current financial situation and determine from there where the best route to finance would be.

Are their any costs for your services?
Again this relates to your postcodes, the age and size of your business, the type of services you are offering and the type of service you are after. It is always worth contacting us to find our what you might qualify for as new projects come up all the time with different criteria.