kz
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Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
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yup, me and my mate have got an appointment booked with the bank manager for a £7k loan, just to start off with, and together we have another £5k to put into it 
i was wondering if anyone has experience with starting a business? we have many things to decide like whether were gonna just sell parts or actually do moddifiation ourselves, i think to start off with its just gonna be selling parts to get ourselves a name
also we were thinking of focusing on just some parts such as just jap parts? personally i think jap is the way forwards but at the same time i dunno if cutting our target auidence is a good idea 
oh yeah and one more thing... the name, we were thinking for ages, but atm i like 'Logical Modz' what you reckon? any input/experience would be nice!
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corsa_sport_white
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Registered: 9th Dec 02
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i take it you've investigated and thought about this carefully. You're gonna hav to see what competition you've got in the area, what market you're aiming at, how big this market is, is the many to be made in doing it. You've gotta think why people would come to ur shop as opposed to longer established competitors. Ideas could be - to undercut competitors prices, make a classy looking premises. If you wanna discuss in more depth u2u me, or reply on here.
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Tommy
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Registered: 24th Aug 00
Location: Essex, Colchester
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Wanna partner with no money ???
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dig dave2811
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Registered: 6th Jan 03
Location: newport sout wales WCM
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quote:
Originally posted by corsa_sport_white
i take it you've investigated and thought about this carefully. You're gonna hav to see what competition you've got in the area, what market you're aiming at, how big this market is, is the many to be made in doing it. You've gotta think why people would come to ur shop as opposed to longer established competitors. Ideas could be - to undercut competitors prices, make a classy looking premises. If you wanna discuss in more depth u2u me, or reply on here.
hes right my dad is a bank manager, and they will probably wan to know everything, like your aims, your target market, products, this is coz at the end of the day, if he lends u 7k and then u go bust, and u cant pay, he has lost the bank 7k and therefore, gets a bad thing against his name so therefore he isnt going to aprove your loan if he thing u are just doing this on a spare of the moment thing.
but anyway if u do get a loan
good luck
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kz
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Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
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corsa_sport_white: thanks for the comments, we have done research into many aspects and i know the main thing is always location... do we go for a more expensive place where like the high street or a cheaper, but bigger place. we still have many things to think about! also we have backing from my mates dad who has been in the car business for years and knows a hell of a lot about starting a business and also about cars in general
LoudandLow: cheers for the offer... lol, but we already have another couple of mates that wanna be in on it, but weve decided at this point just to be a 'partnership'...
i promise you this though... discounts for corsasport people! 
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kz
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Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
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thanks big dave, i know theres a long way to go yet... and i know its a huge risk, could get black listed or anything if it goes wrong. but its something i really wanna do and im serious about wanting to make this work ill post more when i got more info!
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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haveu constructed proposed profit and loss accounts; a cash flow forecast and enquired about what u actually want to retail. Its not as simple as acquiring the laon. U need to carefully think about ur options.
firstly u need to construct a detailed and comprehensive business plan, without one - u won't get a loan in the first place. Secondly u need to prove that the business is an almost certain success in both the current market climate, and ne eventual future market aspects. If the market crashes for example - do u have a back up plan as to what diversifications u could make to ensure survival. These are all things which should in reality be taken into account in the business plan.
location is another requirement, what are the leasing/rental or purchasing costs going to entail......not only price per month but also overall cost in the long term.
theres a lot to consider b4 even attempting to start up ur own business if u want to ensure success
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Jodi_the_g
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Registered: 7th Aug 01
Location: Washington D.C
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Have you secured a lease for your premises or had some form of agreement.
Location such as a shop front that is not that important as large companys such as demon tweats for example are based on a industrial esate.
Also if you are fitting parts you will have to take out a public libabity insurance which in the motor trade is expensive
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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also r u looking at going into a partnership in the short term, r u likeley to remain not only good friends with the other lad, but will u make good partners. as a partner u are jointly liable for ne debts ammassed by the business and if u were to go bust, creditors have the right to acquire payment through ne means of ur personal assets.
do u have the collateral to back the loan-as well
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kz
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Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
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i know live lee, and thanks again for the comments. we have already been on to many companies and have information packs from them coming through the post. at the end of the day this aint even gonna start until at least september/october so we have that long to get our acts together and sort everything we need. but thanks for saying what i need, ill tell my mate and were gonna start getting a good proposal together...
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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I wasnt having a go, just so u know, Im playing devils advocate; as ur bank manager will do.
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kz
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Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
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yeah i know mate, cheers for the tips and ill let everyone know what happens!
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kz
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Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
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yeah i know mate, cheers for the tips and ill let everyone know what happens!
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1.0to2.0
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Registered: 3rd Apr 03
Location: Liverpool
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Y don't you think of something new, for a niche market the only thing is that you will either become filthy fcuking rich, or your business may go into liquidation. If you just specialise in jap imports parts, then this would be a niche market. B But you would need to do alot of research. Any way good look with your venture!!!
[Edited on 06-05-2003 by 1.0to2.0]
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MatG
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Registered: 26th Apr 02
Location: Birmingham UK
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JAP IMPORT = BIG MONEY £12k will not go far at all.
To many big plays in this area IMHO
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1.0to2.0
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Registered: 3rd Apr 03
Location: Liverpool
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I feel 12k may go far, but it will take alot of planning and research. Plus you would need to find a jap company that would give you credit, plus advertising would be vital to the business. If i were them, i would open an online store first, and then go from there. This would be alot less risky and you wouldnt have to have stock, you could just, order your stock when people order from you!!!
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kz
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Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
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nice idea 1.0, good to start off small see what happens, less chance of loosing everything! an idea i had was to make a website, then print off a load of flyers, go down southend on saturday night and hand loads out with the web address on them and see how many hits we get... have a place to leave comments on what people want.
another idea i had was to be open 24hrs on saturday, people come from all over to cruise southend and if someone wanted to buy something there and then wed be the only place open
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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u'd ahve to see if it was allowed as well tho - 24 hour opening. its bvery dependant upon the local councils discretion.
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1.0to2.0
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Registered: 3rd Apr 03
Location: Liverpool
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If you did open a online store then you would be able to spend alot of money on advertising. Which would be good as u can never have to much
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willay
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Organiser: South East, National Events
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Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
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and have you secured a large amount of neon washer jets?
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bcocky
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Registered: 9th Jul 02
Location: irvine, on west of scotland
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m8, take a trip to small business gateway, they'll b more than happy to give u a hand, u can apply for a loan thru the psybt, u can apply for up to 5k, which would help, they will help u with everythin u need to know, i know this cause im startin ma own business at the moment, and im having to do the same thing, they will advise you on partnership agreements and suchlike as well, give em a bell, it makes it a LOT easier to start up thru them!
brian
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kz
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Registered: 9th Aug 02
Location: Southend, Essex Drives: Mini Cooper S
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wicked cocky that sounds good. do they have a website? what sorta business are you going into?
and willay good idea for around here, getting my orders on ghey sunstrips ready as well
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corb
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Registered: 24th Apr 02
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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look into more exclusive stuff, like products which arent seen much over here. Not so sure about other areas of modding, but ice-wise there's loads of manufacturers. u2u me if you wanna know any.
You need to offer something competitors dont or cant (if you get exclusive UK distribution rights, or something??!)
Should it take off for you, dont let it go to your head, keep it small/controlable (take it from someone who knows  )
As far as actually running/setting the business up, i'm not so sure 
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1.0to2.0
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Registered: 3rd Apr 03
Location: Liverpool
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I agree with Corb, their is thousands of companies to compete with. So you should seriously, go into a niche market, this would help because you would be offering somthing different and you would have few competitors, thus you can charge alot more, and make bigger profits
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corb
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Registered: 24th Apr 02
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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oh yeah, what about local government grants which are available in some areas to help setting up a new business. I learnt about something like that for my A-Levels, but only got an E, so dont remember much! Hence in my previous post saying not so sure about setting up/running.
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