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Starting your own small business

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BradC:

--- Quote from: Shock on May 10, 2018, 04:42:46 am ---If it looks like an easy way to make money, expect your idea to be stolen by them.
--- End quote ---

I'm helping out some guys at the moment who are filling a niche in the market. They weren't first (I did what they are doing 15 years ago in Dubai), but their methodology, product placement & product quality puts them above all other current players. They *know* that the other guys will catch up at some point, but their philosophy is to stay ahead of the game and bank on their service rather than only the product (always a winning strategy) as a differentiator.

Make hay while the sun shines. Keep your clients happy and the ones worth keeping will stick around.

Shock:
Feel good story, but I was talking about risks with recruiting partners and employees when starting a niche business. I wasn't saying don't go into business or anything about marketing and customer service (in order to stay competitive).

BradC:

--- Quote from: Shock on May 10, 2018, 05:12:40 am ---I was talking about risks with recruiting partners and employees when starting a niche business.
--- End quote ---

Ahh, yeah. That.
Yeah, I brought my (ex) best mate in to help me market a product along with a line of gear we had the agency for. That agency was keeping us afloat while we designed & built our gear (same industry but different an non-competing product line). He fucked off, took the agency and clients with him. We went under. So yeah, be a bit careful and don't go into business with a "mate".

Halcyon:

--- Quote from: Shock on May 10, 2018, 04:42:46 am ---I'd be surprised if it was a new type of business. You can provide a ton more information to get specific advice without giving out any info, like if it's software/app or an electronics invention, or you're manufacturing or just reselling products etc.

But with regards to partners and employees doing development. If it looks like an easy way to make money, expect your idea to be stolen by them. This is why contracts and NDAs are made (and they are still stolen).

It's hard to get free employees but if it's your idea and they are only supplying X amount of hours of work, you don't want to start throwing out the "partner" word at every opportunity. A good way to lose your business if it turns a buck.

--- End quote ---

It's not "new" entirely. There are people doing this for corporate customers every day however we'd be targeting a specific slice of the consumer market which is yet to be captured (at least properly).

I guess where the benefit comes with my team is that each member brings something to the table, but no one person would find it easy to go at it by themselves. We all actually want to work together and we get on brilliantly.

Our initial goal is to make some play money, nothing more really. If it takes off and becomes very successful, we'll revisit the strategy then. We all have full-time jobs and that isn't likely to change any time in the foreseeable future as we're very well remunerated and secure in our positions.

David Chamberlain:

--- Quote from: DerekG on May 09, 2018, 07:15:59 am ---You will need to decide if you wish to register for GST or not. If you turn over less than $75K pa then you don't have to (with some noticeable exception like Uber), but if you don't, you cannot claim the GST you have paid to your suppliers. If you are going to mainly sell to customers who are likely to be able to claim the GST back, then it is probably best for you to register for GST.

--- End quote ---

Even if you don't need to register for GST I would do it any way. When I started out I didn't and every business customer I had would call asking where the GST number was on the invoice and me explaining I didn't have one and them getting confused about how they are supposed to pay me because the accounting software they use does not let them... and so on.

I think it just looks more professional to have one and it's a simple process to obtain.

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