The Big New Idea: plans, models and lists (plus some fear)

Hello again, dear friends!

I have news about this Big New Idea I started telling you about a couple of weeks ago. I seriously cannot believe that it’s actually two weeks since I wrote the first post, but here we are.

The good news is, I have made progress.

Here’s a little update on the things I listed in the last post:

• Defining the help I need. This is in progress, but I’ve made headway, and I have a clearer idea about who I want to work with, both long-term and short-term, and part-time and full-time. It may shift and change, but some of the foundations (like skills, interests and personalities) are set.
• Have conversations with key people. Done! Oh, and they were so good. I’m really grateful for the support of two people in particular, and I’m looking forward to working with both of them as we move forward. I also spoke to my accountant, who was really supportive and helpful, too.
• Buy the domain. After much faffing around (see below), I finally did it this afternoon. THANK GOODNESS.

So, for those who may be interested, I wanted to share some of the business set-up background, especially having spoken to my accountant earlier this week. While this is a new business, it’s still very much linked to my current business, so while it may have been efficient to set up a new business, for now they’re going to be part of one big joyful entity but under two different names.

They’ll have separate websites, social media accounts, newsletter mailing lists etc, but ultimately they will be the same business.

This is partly because, when I think about the long-term and having a team in place, I want the team to be able to support my current ventures (like events) as part of their normal work. Essentially, I will be using resources from both ventures to support each other.

Before I spoke to my accountant, I had anticipated needing to become a limited company, but having talked through the options, I’ve decided to stay as a sole trader for the time being. Partly to save tax and partly to preserve my financial records for mortgage applications. (As some of you know, I had a mortgage until recently, when we decided to sell up in London and rent in Cambridge until we have more of an idea where we want to be long term. So while I have some mortgage points, I don’t currently have a mortgage, so need to do some clever balancing.)

I hope that’s interesting and helpful to folk who are in the early stages or thinking about expanding!

What’s next?

Well, it’s all go from here!

I’m still thinking about packages, and my financial model and aims. I probably won’t aim to make a profit in the first year, but I will aim to break even, and I certainly want to be fairly close to my ideal pricing structure with what I’m charging. (Because this is going to be part of my existing business, my current income will carry me through anyway, but I’ll be tracking the income and expense of this particular project so that I know what it achieves standalone.)

There are a couple of things that are getting in the way of my final decisions on packages, which are basically the costs: will I need to rent space in the short-term, and how much will it be in the long-term?

The other biggie is finding a certain person to work with, and I haven’t found them yet. (More on this soon, when I reveal the what exactly I’m working on!)

I’m also thinking about how much I want to invest up front, especially on branding design. On one hand, I have confidence in the business and know it’ll do well. But on the other, there’s fear (see below) and wanting to break even. I’ve been in touch with a couple of people, and hope to set up chats with them, but I’m still mulling over what I need for launch. I may not need an all-singing, all-dancing visual branding package in the first, say, six months, and could spend more on this later.

So, a little note on fear

Also interesting and (I hope) also helpful is that I’ve watched myself get stuck in fear a few times over starting this project. It’s really big, and on a few occasions I find myself wondering whether I want to take on this much work, responsibility and commitment.

As someone who’s fairly comfortable with taking risks, I’ve found myself holding back on registering the domain name – something fairly cheap and easy and straightforward – because I’m “not ready”. Because there are several thousand things I can find I “have” to do before I do that.

Like choosing a host. I currently have two great companies’ websites open, and just need to pick one. They’re very similar, both recommended, and neither is expensive. I just need to choose! And yet, I find myself wanting a second opinion, rather than trusting myself to make a (not complex) decision.

So yeah, I can hold myself back. And I guess this is the point at which to hold myself back. This is the first time since I dreamt up this project 18 months ago that I’m actually taking action to make it happen. This is the point of diving in. Except I’m not really diving in. I’m just stepping onto the first step.

I can always change my mind, especially as I learn about the business and the work. If it’s not right, I can change it.

So, there’s an update for you! I’d love to hear your stories of setting up your business, or if you have any questions about this new project from me.

More soon,

Jenny x