You Want to Start Your Own Business? Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Submit Your Resignation Part Three

What the partners of Leicestershire based Morgan Gleave Art & Design have learnt in 11 years of running a small business. 

If you have not done so already, you may wish to read: You Want to Start Your Own Business? Questions to Ask Yourself BeforeYou Submit Your Resignation Part One and Part Two

Here is the final question you need to consider before committing yourself to starting up own business.

5)  How am I going to fund my start-up business?

• How much funding will I need to start my business?  Starting a business is surprisingly expensive.

• Where can I get funding?  You need to use your research skills for this one.  There are numerous sources of funding for small businesses out there.  The most obvious place to seek funding is a bank but there are other options such as grants.  Alternatively, you may choose to use your savings or redundancy money.

• Do I have sufficient funds to live on for at least the first year of trading?   It has been said that a business takes at least five years to become established.   In the meantime bills have to be paid.

• How will I feel if I cannot afford my present standard of living?  How will my family feel?

Oh, noooooooo! I really want to start my own business but now I am soooooo depressed because I didn’t answer yes to all the questions!  Oh, oh, oh, what am I going to do? Ohhhhhhhhh.

Calm down!  Honestly, that is quite enough of that unseemly racket!  Where do you think you are?  The House of Commons? 

You are a prospective entrepreneur, act like one!

Just because you did not answer yes to everything it does not mean that all is lost. 

If you are still determined to start your own business, the next step is to try to make changes so that you can return to this page and have a column of yeses. 

Finally, as disappointing as it may be, there is no shame in deciding that a particular course of action is not for you just now.

You may wish to subscribe to Morgan Gleave Art and Design's blog.  You will be cross with yourself if you missed something...

Nothing in the Universe can Stop you from Letting go and Starting Over

Welcome to the new Morgan Gleave Art & Design blog.  This is the first indication you will have that Morgan Gleave Art & Design is about to go through a major overhaul.  Why?  Well, it’s not a secret but please be patient because, as Mary Poppins sang, ‘Let's Start at the Very Beginning, a Very Good Place to Start’…

The Beginning

Recently, Morgan and Linda of Morgan Gleave Art & Design attended the Leicestershire Business Event at the Leicester Tigers Stadium.  It was a large, but not too large, event organised by Fleckney based Hi 2 Events.  There were talks, speed networking, exhibitions and, Linda liked this, lots of free chocolate.  Actually, there were lots of other freebies too but Linda had trouble getting past the chocolate.  Anyway, back to the point, the event was very well organised by Elaine Vandelli and her team so, in addition to the useful content, the event was great fun.

Dogs Welcome?
Linda and Morgan met many new, pleasant and interesting people.  Both learnt a lot and both discovered many services and products of interest. Linda met Andrew Harris from the Fit for Work Team who mix health and networking by organising walks in Bradgate Park.  However, whether or not dogs are welcome remains unclear. 

Polka Dots
Emma Wennington of TBR Networking was impossible to miss in her bright red and white polka dot blouse.  Linda and Morgan are looking forward to meeting lots of new people at the TBR Networking launch on Friday and wish Emma all the best with her new venture. 

Vegan Makeup and Skincare

Linda especially liked meeting Emma Blessed of Arbonne VeganProducts.  She tried really hard to work out how Arbonne’s wonderful skincare products and makeup could be incorporated into an art and design business.  Linda has not worked that out yet but is working on it.  In the meantime she thinks that it may be necessary for her to buy them for herself…

Marketing Jumpleads

As far as Morgan Gleave Art & Design is concerned, meeting Julia Canham, of Marketing Jumpleads was a turning point.  Marketing Jumpleads is a supported programme of marketing activities enabling small businesses such as Morgan Gleave Art & Design to enter the world of savvy marketing. 

When approached, local marketing companies refused to work with Morgan Gleave Art & Design.  Given that they had in house graphic designers they felt that to agree to represent another design company would create a conflict of interest.  This left Linda muddling on alone. 

Therefore, Marketing Jumpleads was a wonderful discovery.  It is a system of DIY marketing closely guided by experts.  Crucially, Marketing Jumpleads is happy working with a company offering graphic design.  Perfect.

All the World’s a Circle…

So, here we are back at the beginning discussing the changes to Morgan Gleave Art & Design.

Having started the Marketing Jumplead’s programme it became clear to Linda that a complete overhaul is required.  At present cartoons dominate giving the impression that that is all Morgan can do.  Wrong.  Absolutely, totally and completely wrong. 

A New Beginning

This is it! This new blog is the first outward indication of Morgan Gleave Art & Design’s changes.  There will be a new logo and website among other things.

When?

No one is leaking the schedule. 

“I love deadlines.  I love the whooshing noise as they go by.” 

(Douglas Adams in The Salmon of Doubt)

Rather selfishly, Linda and Morgan want to keep any whooshing noises all to themselves so you will just have to wait and see.

What do you think of the show so far?

Although this is just the beginning, constructive feedback is welcome.

“Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.” 

Guy Finley, American Writer