Advice Sought on Being own Boss

weshtawake

Hi, I am a 47 year old qualified Certified Accountant. I am doing 3/4 days a week contract work and I find it deeply unfulfilling. The thought of re-starting back tomorrow fills me full of dread and genuinely depresses me. I have been let go/made redundant twice in the last few years and this has sucked the confidence out of me
I would love to be my own boss and start my own business which would certainly not be in the accounting/finance area. What that might be I do not know but would love to give something a shot.
I'm probably seeking some advice and assurance that there is something better for me and how I might go about getting something up and running which would fulfil and excite me.

Thanx

zenmonk

Interesting one. If you can afford to take some time out ,go for it. If you are paid well enough at the moment and you need this money to pay the bills I would advise staying put. You might feel bad at the thought of work tomorrow but you might feel worse if you didn't have a job.
What other skills have you? is there something else you can do ?

weshtawake

Zen, thanks for reply! I have a few quid set aside so meeting bills is not an immediate issue. What I really need I think is the independence of working for myself. I would love to start something but don't really have any expertise in a particular area which would point in a specific direction.

niceirishfella

Do you have any hobbies that you could commercialise?

bon ami

Westawake understand where you are coming from and would encourage you to go forward and try and find the right idea/product/service etc. However one word of caution, when you do find that idea give a lot of thought to how you will sell the product/serivce etc. In the current climate there is a lot of competition and you must have something to offer which makes people want to do business with you. As an accountant the running of the business on a day to day basis will not be a probelm but how will you sell?

johnc2212

it's a big step going out on your own, particularly coming from a dissatisfied state. Ask yourself what is making you unhappy with what you are doing at the moment. Is it the contracts you have.
with your background in finance perhaps look at buying an existing business. Depending on what cash you have available and lifestyle requirements it's not as daunting as it may seem.

If you need help let me know my background is business sales.

regards

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Hi Weshtawake,

My advice would be to start with the end goal and work backwards. What would fulfill you? (Remote working from anywhere in the world while traveling, Lots of staff vs no staff, Service vs product). Try and think of things that you feel passionate about and what would make you spring out of bed every morning.

Being an accountant should give you a huge advantage in working out if the numbers can be made work in a business.

Then once you have an idea you want to try, micro test it. Spend your days that your not working as an accountant putting the business together, for example buy a small amount of product and approach customers to see if the demand is what you thought it would be - even if you don't make a profit on the initial sales while testing. Starting a business doesn't need to be a big risk.

Hope that helps.

boomshackala

Sounds like you don't want to stick with accounting. When starting a business you can do

1. same market / new product or service
2. vice versa
3. new for both

The third option is riskiest, you don't want the second, so would the first be an option?
i.e work with the type of clients who's needs you already are intimate with, but branching out of accounting?

zenmonk

Just an idea here, why not set up a business aimed at doing tax returns for the ordinary person? (i.e not businesses).
I would think that targetting this market would be a good move. Myself and my wife have had an accountant friend do this for the past 4 years. She charges us €250 and tbh we must have the bones of €6000 gotten back in Tax since.
I think alot of people are afraid to go to an accountants office as they can be intimidating at times and they might not realise the ammount of tax available to claim.
As I said just an idea.

sharky86

But the Tax Back market is already well used up. Taxback.com are based in kilkenny and currently do this for the ordinary person..only charge 40 euro for refubd with a no refund no fee policy. I think this would be a very hard market to break into when up againist that

dganly

Hi weshtawake! When I found myself out of work, I looked into the whole online affiliate marketing thing. What I liked about it, was the fact that it's so cheap to set up a couple of websites (even with just basic training/course in web design), and I got to review loads of sites that I was interested in. At the time, I looked at online bingo (a passing fancy!). And, there is the possibility of earning a lot through a decent site. I also joined up with loads of other online affiliate marketers, and went to many meet-ups and conferences.
As mentioned by a few people, it all really depends on what you want. The fact that you're a qualified accountant already puts you in a good position re the accountancy & reporting side of any business. The next step for you should be thinking about what makes you happy...as mentioned by niceirishfella and TheCostumeShop.ie: the best place for you to start making a decision, is by seeing where you'd like to end up.

Try making a list of the things you actually enjoy doing. Is it reading, travel, cooking...? Work backwards from that, and use that as a way to come up with a business plan. Yes, things are shakey in the economy at the moment, but it's usually during times of recession that entrepreneurs emerge!

weshtawake

I'm afraid I am at aloss to understand the concept of online affiliate marketers. Could you please elaborate.

Thanx

dganly

It's basically a site, which earns commission for publishing information and/or advertising for specific products or merchants. For example, say I ran a website called (not real!) irishgambling.ie, and I used this site to review all of the online gambling providers and their offers. Essentially, all of the big bookies offer an affiliate programme. So, every time someone comes on to my site, clicks through a link, and opens a betting account with one of the providers I have advertised, I get some commission.

There are a lot of affiliate networks too - these are 3rd party sites that aim to connect merchants (everyone from amazon to insurance providers) and affiliates. Trade Doubler are one who have an Irish office also.
Have a look at the Wiki definition here