Dave and George

I recently met with a couple of prospective clients, Dave and George who were looking to start a new business together.  They had been working alongside each other for a number of years and had recently been made redundant and having considered their options, felt that now was the right time to go it alone and use their skills and experience to create a new venture.

They had seen our ‘Get up and Grow’ offer of a free initial consultation and were keen to meet up to discuss their plans for the future.

At this meeting I was able to cover a wide range of issues that they needed to consider, such as the most suitable business structure for them and what systems and bookkeeping records they needed to keep.

A key part of the meeting was when we covered tax.  Dave was particularly interested in being able to save tax, so we ran through the various options available to them.  George said that he had always been employed, so all of this was new to him, so I explained step by step how the UK tax system worked, covering VAT, PAYE, personal tax, national insurance and corporation tax.

I suggested that putting together a business plan would help them to focus on what they wanted to achieve and by producing some forecasts they would be able to see how much money they would need initially and when they were likely to start making a profit.

Dave said that neither him nor George were good at producing forecasts and budgets and wondered whether I would be able to help them, which of course I could.

They said that another former colleague, Michael, who was also now out of work, might join them in the future, so I discussed the importance of drawing up a partnership agreement or shareholders agreement so that everyone knew what would happen in certain situations.  They both agreed that this was an excellent idea as although they felt that Michael had many strengths, they did have some concerns over his loyalty.

The meeting ended and they both thanked me for all of the help and advice given and we arranged to meet up again in a few months’ time to review how everything was going.

I will of course keep you all updated as to how Dave and George get on over the next year, but in the meantime, if you are thinking of starting a new business yourself, please do contact your local Perrys branch and book your free ‘ Get Up and Grow‘ consultation.

Article written by Simon Hayden