Wannabee Entrepreneur

A date and a time

2007-02-28T22:08:52+01:00

I've booked a meeting with a Shell Livewire advisor for monday 19 march. So i've got a couple of weeks to prepare.

I havent' had chance to get in my attic and find more stuff to ebay. That's a job for this weekend.

A pen and paper have been useful. I've started to write down the sort of services I could offer. On paper I sound very good!

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Ebay - I will boost my savings

2007-02-21T22:23:16+01:00

I sold £30 of crap on Ebay today. The sort of stuff that would have ended up in a bin ten years ago (before Ebay).

I'm going to sell, sell, sell, to get more money into my 'start a business' account.

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Shell Livewire business advice

2007-02-19T23:35:24+01:00

Today I dug out an old info pack from Shell Livewire (www.shell-livewire.org ). I say old because I asked for it last year sometime but haven't done anything with it.

Shell help 16 - 30 year olds to start their own business. So I've got to pull my finger out and get planning before I turn 31 in December.

This week I'm going to make an appointment to meet my local Shell Livewire advisor.

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Business planning

2007-02-18T21:09:43+01:00

I think the only way to stop dreaming and actually start a business is to get the dreams out of my head and 'do it'. Today I've started to write things down that I need to do to start a business. This isn't the bravest thing to do and some might say that I should hand in my notice to my boss tomorrow. Although my wife is very supportive I can't see that making her too happy.

My aim for now is to get things down on paper.

Maybe I should do a countdown - Six months to 'Job Resignation Day'

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How do I stop dreaming and actually start my own business?

2007-02-18T15:55:13+01:00

I've wanted to be self-employed since I was seven or eight. But now 22 years later I'm working in local government in a 'steady career'. All those years ago I could never decide what business I wanted to run. All I knew was that I wanted to be my own boss. That dream has never gone away, but I'm in danger of ending up in my 60s and it still being a dream.

I'm addicted to reading books and magazines on self-employment, I watch anything on TV about entrepreneurs and love talking to people are self-employed. But where do I go from here? I'm married with a young baby but luckily our mortgage isn't huge . In my mind (my dreams) I know I could be successful and start a business. The most positive step I've taken in the last year is set up a savings account and called it 'start my own business' account.' It means that as well as dreaming I regularly pay money into it and convince myself it's a step closer to 'going it alone.'

I've done some freelance journalism over the years and earned a small amount of money. My current job is in public relations and this is where I see my main future business. I say main because I would like to continue writing magazine articles. I also have an idea to start a local community magazine. But I worry about selling advertising and whether or not local businesses have budgets to spend. Local businesses survive on local customers so surely a 3000- 4000 circulation free magazine which contains real news about only that area will be a success? The BBC and local newspapers are cutting staff. Residents want to know about the crimes and news from their local area so would this idea work?

I also worry if the changing communications industry will make it difficult for me to start a PR agency. The trade magazines debate the influence of the internet and impact of blogs, podcasting and video streaming. Local government have tiny budgets and aren't known for spending money on the latest communication techniques so I worry that I'm missing out on learning new skills. Do organisations want a traditional PR agency anymore? How do I find clients when I'm working 9 till 5 in my day job?

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