Business help!?

[GLAMUSS]

Hi everyone, so we're a bit new to this, but picking it up bit by bit, the sight s great and SO helpful!
So, we're wanting to start up our own Hair and beauty business, home & mobile based, but need a bit of help. 1, How long do we get before we need to tell Hm revenue's etc that we have a business? We will be based in york uk. 2, What are the steps you'd say we need to take first in getting our business up and running? And really any good tips for us, thank you xo

 

[MobileKat]

I'm sure its 3 months before you have to inform HMRC about being self employed.

http://www.yourchamber.org.uk/

Thats the web address for your local chamber of commerce, give them a ring and ask to speak to one of their business advisors. They will help you get started.

xxx

 

[salonone]

The first step anyone should take when thinking about a business is a preparing a business plan.

 

[Chelsea1234]

Hi Glamuss! I've been asking these questions myself recently.

So there is more then one of you? So you're going to be partners or a business & you'll need to register which one with HMRC within 3 months of working. You may need to register with Companies House as well. If you want to protect your name & logo from being used by someone else register with the Intellectual Property Office.

Insurance, look around for a good deal, Salon Gold do it for less then £50 for an individual with no add ons like contents insurance, it'll be a bit more for two or more of you.

You might want to think about getting a business bank account too, keeps money simple.

Good luck!

Chelsea X

 

[Beansy]

You only need to register with Companies House if you want to trade as a limited company (rather than a sole trader).

You need to determine the level of risk that you want to carry. Being a limited company mitigates this but with this comes greater financial outlay and responsibility (different tax structure, having an accountant, submitting your accounts annually).
As a sole trader you don't have the same demands but you could become liable for any debts that your business can't meet.
You'll probably find that most small businesses (salon/mobile) on here are sole traders. I would guess that very few have trademarks registered- this is an additional expense and you might want to consider whether this is really a priority to you.

Hope this helps- definitely get a business plan together and get someone impartial to review it just so they can help you understand whether your figures really do stack up!!

 

[Beansy]

Ooops, forgot to say if you're setting up in a partnership then you'll need a comprehensive p'ship agreement in place so that each party is clear on responsibilities and liabilities. Think worst case scenario (sorry) and make sure that you've got all those risks covered.
Good luck!!

 

[cocobeauty]

Business Link has a lot of information:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home

 

[souz]

hiya, business link do a free course if you have a business idea, its very informative and someone from hmrc comes to give a talk also,

hmrc said that as soon as you are advertising for clients even if you haven't had any you should be registered with them. also if there are more than one of you get things straight in a contract of how its going to work to make sure that everything is equal. Keep receipts for everything and write out prices for equipment you already had as this will go towards your start up costs and be taken off when you do your accounts. Start book keeping straight away as its easy to forget things or let it get out of control.

hope this helps and if you need any other help just ask! good luck with your venture x