Thank you to Caroline from ArtiePartyz for sharing her experiences.
Caroline and friend Rosie
I am a Mum with 2 children, a bouncy outgoing 3 year old girl & a much more laid back 9 month old boy, who has just taken his first 5 steps unaided. About 4 months after my little girl was born and decided I didn’t want to go back to work & leave her in somebody else’s care, despite of my employer being more than accommodating. I came across Shiny Shoes, a party plan company. Whilst this wasn’t my own business it gave me the opportunity to become self employed.
Why
In April of this year the combination of late nights hosting Shiny Shoe parties broken sleep & early starts prompted me to start thinking about other alternatives.
Where it came from
ArtiePartyz, hassle free children’s craft parties, was born from an enjoyment of crafts my daughter & I had undertaken at various toddler groups, my ability to grow ideas & wanting to provide a service.
Research
My first task was to research the idea, which was relatively simple. As I was able to research other companies, only one of which, was local to me & expensive. I then researched costings & formats which was done via the internet. I am the queen of spreadsheets so documenting my costings was again fairly simple. I discussed the idea with friends, family & the odd acquaintance to a really positive response.
Legal & Insurance
With regard to legalities of dealing with children I spoke to The Bradford Early Years department who where fantastic answering all my queries. All the information they gave me was on their website but I found the website either unclear or a little difficult to assess.
I found the most comprehensive & competitive liability insurer, to be my local insurer even after I’d looked for quotes on-line. I found on-line policies too generic and there was nobody to answer my questions.
What to do with the research
Once I’d gathered my research I felt I could start my business for a relatively low outlay with minimal risk. Just marketing to do. This is the bit I find most difficult, I am confident in most things but telling people how good I am or my business is doesn’t come naturally. My advice would be decide who your market are and target that market only.
My market is families with 3 – 8 year olds. These are people I come into contact with daily, as part of my family life so I have had to train myself to see things very differently and take every opportunity to tell people about ArtiePartyz.
Marketing
Cold calling, is not easy but can be quite fruitful if you’re offering your services free, in exchange for the opportunity to market business.
Business networking fairs – the jury’s out on whether this is profitable but definitely worth going to pass your business card onto the other networkers and pick their brains. Another tip would be to do a swap you hire them they hire you, you never know this might be the way to a second booking!
I have also attended school fayres. Initially these weren’t very profitable as my selling range had a low price point, party bags ranging from £1 – £3. You have to sell a lot of party bags to turn £50 of profit!
I would recommend attending fayres/shopping events. Try to opt for % of profit rather than payment before hand that way if you sell nothing you’ve lost nothing but your time.
Leaflet dropping is difficult to assess, I have tried nurseries, schools and local toddler groups. I cannot say I have a definitive answer as to whether this is successful.
Branding
Your business needs to be easily recognised. Try to brand your business – start with a logo, one that gives people an indication of what you do. ArtiePartyz logo is a set of brightly coloured painted hand prints (craft parties always involve sticky fingers).
Think of a catch phrase that sums your business up. Keep it short, sweet and if possible catchy. Artiepartyz: “Hassle free children’s parties” – what parent doesn’t want a hassle free children’s party?
Webspace
Whatever your business people will expect a website. If you have reasonable computer skills you can buy a ‘do it yourself’ website. Most include your domain name and at least one matching e-mail address. This is what I did. (I’d appreciate any feedback on my web skills).
I bought my site from www.Mrsite.com It was recommended by a friend who also runs her own business from home. The website cost me about £40 for the year but they had a lower and upper price options.
I chose the middle range site as it included a shopping facility if you have a paypal account, again really easy to register for.
Tax & Finance
Because my turnover was initially low, I work part time to provide a second income, I opted to do my own books and tax return. I read various tax advice books and the guidance documents that the tax office send when you register as self employed. You have to do this within 3 months of working for yourself.
If you have a reasonable grasp of maths and aren’t trying to do anything clever with regard to tax savings, the tax return form is fairly straight forward. If your takings are under £64k you only have to complete a “short tax form”.
I started my business at the beginning of the tax year (5th April) so there were no tax complications from my previous years.
If you send you tax return before the end of September the tax office will calculate the tax you owe, so no pressure to get your sums right! I would recommend that you put at least 20% of your PROFIT in a high interest savings account, that way when the tax bill does hit the money is ready & waiting. If your lucky enough not owe any or less tax than expected then you can either reinvest or take a well earned holiday or treat yourself.
I set up my own set of books, but you can buy various book keeping software that does the job for you. In hindsight I would try to get hold of a tax return form and set up my books according to the categories it asks for. My books run on a rolling month basis. I simply add the value of each invoice, sale as it occurs so it accumulates to a month end total. At the end of each month my receipts are checked against each column and filed to add month end totals which are totalled at the end of the year.
Advertising
Yorkshire Business Enterprise run trade fairs regularly across Yorkshire they have a mountain of people and services that can help you with everything from tax to marketing.
I attended the marketing lecture, which was informal so no need for suits, briefcases or laptops. Advice I gained from this lecture, when e-mailing people give them every way they can contact you, including a telephone number, some people like to talk.
The cheapest way to advertise is to use your car and most people have access to a car. Think about it how many people pass your car parked at the supermarket, shopping centre, when you visit family and friends… You don’t need to have it sign written but magnets and window stickers are reasonably priced.
Conclusion
I started working for myself as it suited my personal situation, I work around my husband’s shifts, so I have no child care costs and as a rule, my children have either their dad or my care with the occasional grandparent covering the odd babysitting shift. I work when it suits my family I would fully recommend working for yourself as long you have the full support of those around you as the hours can be long. Make sure you assess the risks whether financial or family related if these are minimal and you can afford to lose the time or finance go for it.
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