Remster

Thread title says it all really. Just interested to see how many business owners we have on Scoobynet and in what field. (not the grazing type )

If you are in the fortunate/unfortunate (delete as applicable) position to own or part own your business, how are you finding trade at present?

I'll start:

- MD of Limited Company (75% Shareholding)
- Manufacturer of Healthcare products (Plastics - Injection Moulding/Extrusion/Assembly)
- Staff inc. myself 6

Current business climate TERRIBLE!!!! Thanks to B Liar and his cronies manufacturing in this country has become almost unviable owing to the stupidly high wage levels (min. wage to £5.05/Hr on 01/10) and the strength of the £. Most UK Companies within the industry (my customers) have either set-up their own factories in Eastern Europe or the Far East or have been forced to purchase components from existing manufacturers in these parts of the world. With far less constraints by way of legislation and taxation and with wages levels a fraction of the UK it is unsurprising that a mass exodus has occurred. SME's like my Company are sadly too small to follow and are therefore left picking up the scraps of business whilst devoting hrs ensuring all H&S, ISO9000, COSHHH etc. regulations are being upheld. Add to this my staff who really couldn't give a **** about the Company or their Country and still demand more money saying they are underpaid!!! WTF

Sorry for the rant but it seems that although I continue to implement costly efficiency measures to try and remain competitive, the tide is coming in too fast. Why doesn't this government give SME's a break.

So, hows things with you?

davegtt

I see where your coming from when your the one having to pay the wages but to be honest, anyone getting less than £5 is blady well under paid, simple. The minimum wage is good for alot of people IMO, fine its not making you as much money but think of the poor soles who are slogging their guts out for you on pitance. Bet your earning more than £5 profit an hour are you not?

Remster

Dave,

It is not the wage level that is too low in this country, it's the expected standard of living thats too high! People could exist on a very low (reasonable) wage if they cut out some of the luxuries that have now become commonplace.
None of my staff go without their own car, houses both rented and mortgaged, holidays, kids and major binge drinking on the weekend. All this on £10k a year.
It was only 5 years ago when the majority of my staff arrived by bus because they couldn't afford to run a car. They incidentally never complained about being less well off and were more dedicated to the job than those of today. Now ALL my staff have their own car and yet they still moan about being hard up. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!!!

As for profit, I wish you could see our A/C's from the last two years. If profits are indicated by figures in brackets (£*****) then YES, we've made loads.

Freak

ouch

GaryK

- teaboy of Limited Company (26% Shareholding)
- Telecoms company (Fixed Line, Mobile, VoIP, Systems all business 2 business only)
- Staff inc. myself 5

Highly competitive market (the one everyone gets pi$$ed off by getting calls from ) struggled for 2 years but seeing the fruits now of strategic partnerships and private investment o and mobiles are forever in demand, wont be retiring for a good few years tho, cant even afford another scoob at the mo

Gary

MJW

When you approach your bank manager to extend your overdraft by another £100k, just tippex the brackets out before you give him the accounts !

Flatcapdriver

You are caught between a rock and a hard place so you've either got to source some of your components (if not all) from a cheaper producer or position your products further up market by differentiating yourself from your competitors.

The second option is more difficult but if done successfully will protect you from foreign competition as they're unable to compete on quality which will justify your additional margin. As I said, not easy but it seems the most effective way for UK manufacturers to survive.

scoobyjimbo

[QUOTE=Remster]Thread title says it all really. Just interested to see how many business owners we have on Scoobynet and in what field. (not the grazing type )
]

Yes a 95% shareholder in an IT services and consultancy firm - trading not as good as last year but not as bad as some others on here, in fact it is still pretty good, although alot of competition. This isnt my only income though as my business is a part time enterprises and alot of it is e-commerce which drives itself. I am also an IT manager.
Conditions still remain good IMHO.
Be interesting if anyone on here also owns an IT services consultancy and see how they are doing.
J

Danny B

Does being self employed also count?

scoobyjimbo

should think so Danny...
J

Edcase

Used to be 100% owner of a small cutting edge new media company, then sold out for a smaller percentage of a much bigger and even more cutting edge new media company.

Just today signed a 7-figure round of VC money and about to significantly ramp up operations in NYC, London and Berlin and open operations in France and Asia.

It's bloody hard work, I regularly do a full day GMT and then carry on and do a full day EST too, but the excitement of the market growth and that we are doing something revolutionary keeps picking me up each time I burn out!

StickyMicky

ScoobyDoo555

100% shareholder in an audio production company. Business is OK Nothing special though.

Very cutting edge (media/music production-wise) - and like most other businesses, alot of hard work. Due to the nature of the actual job, average "session" is 18-20 hours...... comes with the territory though, so not complaining

Dan if anybody needs music for anything. let me know
website in profile

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

100% owner of a small company called PTMW Ltd

Not much trading though at the moment as it's somewhat dormant.

The other company of which I am a minor shareholder is doing ok - long may it last.

Economy wise, we're in the service sector & we can see that companys are booking couriers in London fine. We haven't seen a tightening of the belt & we normally can see these things in sequence - finance companies start to do deals, solicitors get involved then pr stuff, then printers/typesetters etc etc. Thats in addition to fulfilment orders etc. No obvious downturn after the summer, rather the opposite at the moment.

Scooby-Mark

MD of my Limited company,
I do Robot simulation in the automtive industry
working on contract to Ford, currently at Jaguar at Castle Bromwich working on the new XK sports car. Like most companies in the automotive trade money isnt brilliant at the mo, rates haven't gone up in 4 years !!

Apparition

Used to own my own hardware store...(Nails, hammers etc. NOT 'puter stuff!)
Turned it around into a very successful store but, burned myself out in the process. Luckily, was able to sell it as a going concern and the new owners are doing ok on the back of my goodwill.
Sold up , moved north and jettisoned the mortgage. Now I work part time locally in my new area and love not having that awful responsibility hanging around my neck.
Yve

sti-04!!

I am a butcher , so if you want meat am your man

Ray_li

Don't own my own business but I'm a Industrial Designer for a British company that's sells their image as "Made In England" but we've started to turn to Asia for parts machined and assembled.

I think anybody in British manufacturing is up for a very hard time.

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

Own my own design company, and light engineering / CAD design company.

Business has been gettting better if anything recently, but we tend to work in niche markets and do a lot of specialised custom work that most other companies either cant do, or charge the earth for as they cant work as quickly or on small run items like we can.

Just lucky I suppose, but have spent a lot of effort building up through word of mouth and have artificially kept the businesses small when I could have expanded to make sure the quality of work stays up.

I think this is maybe where business in Britain will go in the future, there are a lot of very skilled people in the UK, and our Universitys are second to none in technical training - problem being people buy cheap tat from the far east and assume its the same quality as everything else.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

I run my own business selling narrowboats and other inland waterways craft on brokerage. I've had a good year so far but the market has definitely slowed down in line with property sales and prices which it mirrors quite closely. Fortunately the high cost of housing means people are looking for alternatives and living afloat is just one of them which is good news for me, about half of the boats I've sold this year were for residential purposes.

Ray_li

Too right.

We are currently buying parts for £1 fully machined and assembled then selling for £20+.

Not the way I like to work but the management tells us it's the only way forward.

Stueyb

Scoobychick, just out of interest, how much does a narrowboat cost ? Its not something you pop down the shops for is it now

rik1471

Pikeys

Ray_li

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

They cost anything from around 10K up to over 100K, anything below 10K is probably sunk or about to sink The last residential boat I sold was a huge dutch barge on a residential mooring with electricity, telephone, postcode, garden etc in the centre of town and that went for 115K which, compared to a flat in the same area of the same size was a bit of a bargain.

Pikey's or not, I don't care who buys my boats as long as they pay my wages

Remster

Some interesting replies guys, thanks.

Good to hear most of you are making waves, especially scoobychick!!

As has been said earlier in the thread, I could begin to buy in components from overseas but to be honest this doesn't interest me in the slightest. The Company was set up to manufacture and we have become highly competant in our field. Yes, the product is low cost and high volume and is, at present, labour intensive to make but our quality is still superior to that offered elsewhere. The main problem is removing the blinkers from idiotic purchase managers eyes who believe that saving a few pennies by buying from the Far East etc. will make them the MD's golden boy/girl. I firmly believe that we can still compete in the UK and with major streamlining and improvements in efficiency (reduction in labour) time will tell.

I agree that the UK is fast becoming the hotbed for R&D and technical development in Europe as we do have plenty of skilled people. The government have been fostering this with major grant funding in these areas. You try getting a grant for manufacture however and it's a different story. Ideas will be spawned in the UK and Companies will be forced to outsource manufacture due to the dimise of capable organisations on home turf.

My get out clause, should I choose it, would be to wind up the Company and sell the biggest asset i.e. buildings & land which are owned, to a builder developer. Obviously one would obtain outline planning permission first to boost the value.

Life does get interesting.

Robbie T

iTrader: (8)

115 grand for a slug on water, fookin hell. I think i prefer the flat, oh well whatever floats your boat

Sbradley

Owner of the largest independent online (motor)bike magazine in Europe. As a magazine it's going great with 85,000 regular readers each month and a cracking reputation in the industry. But it seems like a very, very hard way to get rich.

Also own an IT consultancy which is doing OK. Not great but OK.

Found the last few years have got increasingly harder with more administrative overheads involved in trying to do what the tax man gets paid for (why *do* we have a huge Inland Revenue when they expect us to do all the work?) and keep abreast of technological and legislative changes. Margins have got tighter as well and rates, at least in the areas I've been working, have been pretty static or sometimes even gone downwards. But I'm still enjoying it and there's only one company I'd go work for as a staff member out of choice.



SB

farmerwrx

home care
73 employee's
load's of work coming in
to many on the sick at the moment

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

I hope all these shortsighted buyers for companies in the UK realise that the prices in the Far East arent going to stay low for very long - just the same way Japan and Korea used to be really cheap ( remember how many cheap things used to come with 'MADE IN JAPAN' on the bottom ? dont see them anymore do you ? ), and now arent, hence China taking over - as soon as the Chinese workers start demanding higher wages and wanting to live a Western lifestyle, the prices will rocket.

The world is fast running out out third world manufacturing countries to exploit, pretty soon it'll be MORE expensive to buy overseas than from UK manufacturers ( if any of us are left by then ! ) and hopefully things will level out a bit.

Just hope enough businesses in the UK can hold on until it happens - we used to be a nation of shopkeepers, now we seem to be a nation of call centre workers !