Watch this space

[Catherine]

I have not posted or been on regularly recently because we have been very busy as my OH is, from the 16th February, starting his own business. He has been in a partnership for the last 18 years but decided three months ago to start to work for himself .Yippee. So I have designed new business cards and letter heads. I think it is very exciting and very scary about what we are starting to do, bearing in mind what is going on in the rest of the world financially but, he repairs and services tractors, he has got a very good name for himself, so we are hoping that Monday will be a new start for the rest of our lives.

We have decided that on Monday we are going to go on our favourite ever walk to start our new lives. And Tuesday will be our new start. Please cross your fingers for us.

[mrs l]

I wish you good luck in your new buisness. How exciting.

[Gerry]

Best of luck to you and of course your husband.
Gerry.

[Johnboy]

Hi Catherine,
I wish you both the very best in your new venture.
JB.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Catherine, i have missed you not being on the forum, so glad to see you back.

How exciting for you both, and i think it's quite a good time to start such a business, what with the large Agricultural companies charging so much, and people looking to cut costs.

So i also hope you all he best for the future.

And what a lovely way to enjoy the new start, going for your favourite walk.

[garden_serf]

Catherine, running your own business can be very rewarding.
Best of luck to you both!

I too think that when the economy is a bit flat and people have less money to spend, 'fixing things' works. People definitely want things fixed up and maintained rather then paying out more to replace them or upgrade.

Its an exciting time!...make sure you open a bottle of bubbly at all the important crossroads (first cheque in the bank, etc..) to recognise and reward yourselves for your efforts.

[Bren]

Catherine and Hubby best of luck, fingers crossed that all goes well for you both, lovely being your own boss.
Bren

[Primrose]

Good luck to you both Catherine. It's a challenging time to start a new business and I imagine it must feel quite scary. If you concentrate on giving exceptional customer service I'm sure this will help. It's so rare these days and people remember it. Are you going to do lawn mowers by the way? Our lawn mower services always seem to cost almost as much as a car service these days, so perhaps there's a niche there for you, especially if you can arrange to collect and redeliver.

[Monika]

Good luck, Nigel and Catherine! We shall look out for your van (?) when we come over your way!

[Cider Boys]

Hello Catherine

I wish you both success and good luck.

Barney

[Smurfy]

Best of luck to both of you. it's such an exciting step.

[garden_serf]

Catherine take a look at this link when you get a moment http://www.businesslink.gov.uk .

I have found them very useful.

[Mike Vogel]

Very good luck, Catherine to you both. It has occurred to me on numerous occasions that all this economic crisis is at least partly due to there being too many huge concerns pushing and pushing people to buy what they don't really need. The small business providing a necessary service which depends on skill, expertise and good will is far more likely to survive and prosper, especially if it doesn't want to overexpand. And doing things for oneself as well, such as growing your own, veggie swaps, informal exchange and the like are going to take off. so i think things look good for you in many ways.

mike

[AnneThomas]

Very good luck to you both - and what a lovely way to celebrate a life changing point.

'Down' times are, in my opinion, good times for starting new ventures. That way the business grows slowly and steadily which makes it more enduring and hardy. Just think of all those seeds we sow too early and try to force to grow to fast. Wimpy, sappy things which don't survive or never reach full potential

[Smurfy]

Catherine take a look at this link when you get a moment http://www.businesslink.gov.uk .

I have found them very useful.

Thanks for sparking that thought Garden_Serf. Business Link are very helpful. Also if you are looking for any training in anything give Train to Gain a ring as they can usually get it fully funded for you (http://www.traintogain.gov.uk/)

Don't get sucked into joining lots of networking events or paying for advertising. If you want to do either of these do your homework first to make sure that they'll be right for you as there are so many organsations out to take money off newly established businesses who are looking for an early boost in sales.