Start a Business for less than the Average Weekly Wage.

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Start a Business for less than the Average Weekly Wage.

According to a recent survey 76% of micro businesses are started with less than ÂŁ2000. The government is continuing to encourage people to think about starting their own business as a way of finding a way out of the current financial crisis and would have been encouraged by the report last week, Growing your Business’, by Lord Young the Prime Minister’s Enterprise Adviser which stated that this is a ‘very good time’ to start a business.

More results from the survey can be seen below:

  • 86 per cent of respondents were ‘spare room’ start-ups, running their businesses from a home office, rather than from a serviced office or shared workspace.
  • Rather than giving up their jobs and putting a strain on their finances, more than a third of micro-business owners say they started their businesses whilst still working in their permanent job.
  • 76 per cent used personal savings to start.
  • 20 per cent asked for financial help from friends and family.
  • 13 per cent used their redundancy money.
  • Only 2.5 per cent of those business owners polled secured a bank loan.
  • 2.5 per cent were lucky enough to receive a grant of some description
  • Just 0.8 per cent had sourced funding from a private investor.
  • Six in ten micro-business owners were over 30 when they started their business,
  • More than a quarter (28 per cent) were over 40 when they launched their start-up, with 11 per cent over 50.
  • Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of the micro-businesses launched in the past year have been internet-based, while technology (14 per cent), design (14 per cent), marketing and PR (12 per cent) and professional service (11 per cent) businesses also feature strongly.

 

Surveys like this one seem to indicate that there is still the confidence amongst start-ups to act on their business ideas and fund themselves or seek micro funding where possible. Though access to finance may be tough there are other considerations that might make starting a business an ideal time: access to affordable staff, abundance of free advice and information online, low cost finance if successful, low cost office space etc etc.

Have a read of the following blog posts we have published on all aspects of Business or visit our Business Start Up Page for more advice:

Overcoming Setbacks when Starting a Business

Delivering Great Customer Service

Battle of the Fittest

Shared Space – Are there Additional Benefits?

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