There are things I detest when it comes to trying to run a company. Most of them spark up in the early days of trading.
It’s important new business startups prepare for the tricks charlatans will present them, eating away at their time, and hard earned cash, but these phonies aside, there are issues which we don’t expect to have to deal with, which may bring a new company to criticality.
Here’s a list of my pet dislikes which are common within the first few months of trading, and my own personal solutions to dealing with them:
Dislike - Rents & Some landlords
Landlords who retain a poor standard of premises and expect premium prices for their leaky, mold ridden shed like buildings.
Solution
If it isn’t like a brand new building, I’m having money off. And more money drops off with the more work I have to do to get it up to standard. Negotiating 6 months rent free, and paying 1/3 the asking price for sorting out the decor is common. Leases are always with a get out clause for early termination in our favour, and the Landlord is always responsible for Roof, Bricks, Mortar and Windows above ground floor. If it’s an issue on moving in – I won’t pay rent till it’s fixed – and that’s in the lease too.
Dislike – Utility companies - Gas, Water, Electricity
Money is tight, and anyone, whether they are in business or not knows it. You try and have a connection for specifically Gas and Electric in a business premises, and have a new Limited company, or a not so great credit rating as an individual, and you can expect the provider to ask for a bond. If you’re really on the breadline, and you don’t expect to fork out £800 a piece to get power on, it can be a travesty, especially if you’ve just moved in, and now they are threatening to cut you off!
Solution
It’s happened to me. I negotiated to pay the bond in several stages, making the initial hit not so high. It had taken us 3 months to renovate the premises, and we had been using all manner of power tools and electric heaters, and the meter was quite clearly broken when we moved in... so....
Dislike – Travelling Salespeople
Especially in retail – they just walk in, and decide now would be a great time to talk to you for as long as possible whilst you’re really busy.
Solution
Tell them you’re not interested, and they need to buy something, or leave.
Dislike – Time to get stuff done
You need something done is business, and you need it done now. Getting a phone line installed, and the net connected can take weeks of your life away. Once you get the premises, you need everything up and running asap.
Solution
Do as much of the leg work yourself, ensuring the internals are fine from the master socket beyond. Tell the connecting party (BT for example) that you’re free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and do an install at short notice. If you see a BT Openreach guy outside, pester them. Eventually, they will escalate the job just to silence you.
Dislike – Wanderers with ulterior motives
Mainly in retail, people will wander in, often in suits with a clip board, making notes. Half the time you have no idea who they are, or what they are doing. Often they are from the Health and Safety department, or your local rates office in the council, or trading standards, or some other agency on the fish to trip you up.
Solution
As with anyone who walks in, be friendly, bouncy and happy, and interrogate them to who they are, and why they are there. If they are official, they should identify themselves.
Dislike – TV Licensing
I bought a flatscreen TV for our CCTV as a second set so the camera views could be seen by potential shoplifters. A few weeks later, we received a threatening letter from TVL saying we needed a licence. We don’t, so I ignored it. Some weeks later still, a gent arrived and looked around. He introduced himself, and asked where our TV’s were. He wanted to then search our property.
Solution
I threw him out, then sent a letter to TVL removing their right of implied access.
Dislike – PRS for music
The organisation that invoices for playing music in your work location.
Solution
Pay for a “Licence”, don’t play music, or claim the artist is being benefitted by extra exposure, and so they should be paying you.
Dislike - Shoplifters
You've spent all your life savings on getting your business up and running, in refurbishment, stock, resources, and within a few days of opening, some cretin comes in, and nicks something.
Solution
Find them. Hunt them down. Make an example of them. We invested heavily in theft prevention products and CCTV, but, nothing quite replaced the chase up the street, and rugby tackle. (Be VERY careful of committing assault). Systems like 'Storenet' are awesome, as the operator will give you a heads up. We call the Police every time we catch a shop lifter, and for the times we don't, we identify them on CCTV, and print out their mug, which goes on our wall of shame.
Sadly, it all get worse now... My biggest hate....
The moment you have a phone line installed, and start getting your business registered in the Yellow Pages, Thomson etc, the calls start...
I don’t mean the odd cold call, I mean one of tens of ‘businesses’ posing as a utility provider.
The Script goes like this:
“Hi, can I speak to whoever is responsible for the Electricity for.... address?”
They then say they are calling to organise the transfer over to them, and require all the meter details etc.
How did I discover the Scam? We don’t have meters in certain business premises – they are shared office spaces, with a central meter which our rent fully covers – therefore, there is no account to switch.
Around 10 calls a day for the first 2 weeks, then slowly dropping down to one a day, to one a week. You can imagine how much of your time this takes up, and what a distraction it can be.
My solution for this should be to just hang up, but, even without a meter, I keep them talking with a German accent, before giving them a fake meter number, and an address at the North Pole. You can guess the name I use... “Sint A Klaus”.
What other issues have people found in business they disliked? What was your solution?
