starting own business...

You dont have to register a "company name" to be self employed. There are various possibilities open to you. First you need to decide what you want to do, will you be opening a shop, will you be offering a service, will you wish to trade under a name that is different to your own true name.

You can register as a sole trader with Revenue, trading under your own name. If you wish to register a business or trading name which differs to your own name, you must do this with the CRO, so it could be Mary Darcy T/A (trading as) Mary's Fashions or Mary's Book Shop or The Village Bakery. You may also wish to set up a limited company, but you will need at least two directors and one secretary (one person can act as director and secretary), you will need to incorporate the company, get yourself a memorandum & articles of association, have a share capital, have a registered office, file accounts annually with the CRO as well as Revenue obligations.

There is good info [broken link removed], [broken link removed]and
 
Thx a mill. My husband will probably go sole trader but under another name ! It will be a service gas and oil. It's either we make a go of it here or we leave Ireland. Going to FAS next wk to see if we can get help.
 
Hi BondGirl, Setting up the Venture is the easy part. Don't worry about that. I would not be too optimistic about getting help from State Agencies. They have good people working for them and I'm sure they mean well.

My advice would be -
1. ascertain the level of demand for your service.Find out who are your customers (I'm guessing by your post that the service you hope to offer has also a great deal of competition - This is not a bad thing, often better to compete in competitive market where there is a market rather than try and win business in an area where there is no market. Are your prospective customers small medium or large businesses, are they people living in semi detached houses. You need to learn exactly who they are and how you can make a target list.

2. Find a way to get the message to your customers as effectively as possible. different types of marketing work well for different types of businesses. When you find something that works - stick to it. I would advise getting advice from as many people as possible on the marketing end. Research blogs, use social media, ask people you know. There is a probably a great way for you to be a great marketeer but you have to search for it....

Apart from that you need to offer a good solid service that people are happy with, manage your cashflow and provide great aftersales.

But First 2 Steps are key to getting started....

Who are your customers....

How do you attract them...
 
Product, Price, Place, Promotion.

Cost of goods sold is where the battle is won or lost.

After you assess your market, secure your supplies and know your USP.

(Unique Selling Point - location, copyrighted / patented product, cost, etc)

No point opening up or developing a market for someone else to benefit from.

ONQ.
 
On topic but slightly diff question

I am also looking at the possability of setting up a Ltd company over the coming month and I am wondering if anyone knows can I do this while still working full time. e.g can i have a limited comapny and work.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated
 
Of course you can. You can be taxed on different incomes, the Revenue will simply notify your employers of your new tax credits without explaining why they've changed.
 
Think again before setting up a limited company. It's a complex and expensive process unless you are considering a significant level of business.
 
44brendan said:
Think again before setting up a limited company. It's a complex and expensive process unless you are considering a significant level of business.
Click to expand...

+1

Forming a limited company for a part-time business is gross overkill, except in the very rare cases where the business is expected to be an absolute goldmine.
 
Hi,

other than setting up a ltd company what would be the best course of action for some one starting out on their own, my wife just recently lost her job but luckily has some freelance work to keep her going, she is considering pursuing this as a full time option. She has to bilud up a client base/pursue new work in order to do this. It is likely that initially she will not be kept going full time (she currently works form home and also has some "in-house" work with a company as a freelancer). As you can see the sources of income will be varied and non-routine......so is a ltd company overkill as you suggest (we are not talking about big money here...could possibly be in the order of 25-30k a year of invoiced work).

What is the best option here? and if she has weeks where she doesn't have work is she entitled to Social welfare?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top