Does anyone here run there own business?
 

Do you run your own business and if so what is it and how,s it going?
Al theturtleshead
Running his own business.

I do, I translate and it's going fine, everyone needs stuff translating into English it seems.

Cleaner!
 

I run a medium sized office cleaning company in London... and it is doing pretty well really.

I'm a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (marriage fights, domestic violence, bratty kids, and so forth) in private practice. Turns out this is a growth industry! If times get really, really hard I supposed no one will want to pay for counseling. However, until that point I think hard times actually make me busier.

What languages do you know that you translate from?

damn straight
 

Screw this bar nonsense! Ah maybe not! a marriage therapist in Colombia might be a bit tricky.
Al theturtleshead

I would like to start an internet cafe that sells coffee and stuff. I know it would probably die in the ass but I'd still like to try, do you require a working visa to do this?

IT Contractor
 

As an IT contractor I have my own business, but I wouldn't say I run it. My accountant does!

Maybe
 

I recon that to do the old Internet Cafe trick around here.The real question is do they need one? All the hostals now seem to have computers and wireless.But at least here in El Poblado,Medellin there is no dedicated internet cafe and there would appear to be a booming backpacker trade alright.
I,m about to sign a contract in the next days for the house I,ll be renting and for the bar I,m budgeting around 50-70k
I,m guessing that a startup cost you should be looking at 20-30k
Visas and so on you can always work something out in Colombia.
Al theturtleshead

French, and I've just started Italian. Thing is, (and don't tell anyone) the computer does about 85% of it these days, and for the most part a translater isn't translating, they're re-writing. I was once asked to translate a Dutch text, and I speak no Dutch at all, but could still do a reasonable job, with a machine translation, a dictionary and then two re-writes to get it to sound like English.

One day I'll be out of a job though, so...

Can I have a job? I fancy a couple of months in London as I've not lived in the Uk for eleven years now. Part-time would do, and I'm cheap.

Thanks Al, that helps heaps. I look forward to visiting your bar.

Ether
 

Well, don't know what I've been drinking but I read, ( open an internet cafe selling coffe......) I read this as a joke of a virtual cafe selling coffee!!! I'd make a very poor translater! Linzi.

lol, nah a place where you can surf the web, play games etc and buy coffee.

I'd love to run my own business.

I've been at college part-time updating my engineering qualifications and getting certified as a motorcycle technician. I've finally got round to quitting my day job, officially finishing this friday, to go full-time so will be finished around May/June next year.

If anyone out there runs a touring company or is thinking about setting one up and needs support crew (very cheap) starting spring/summer '09, give me a shout.

I'll do you a swap! I also translate French into English, and the funniest one US English into UK English, in Edinburgh, but quite fancy being back in France for a while! Can't afford all the fancy software though so I do it oldstyle with dictionaries.

But anyway that's only a sideline, main business is also my own, freelance lighting tech, until all the banks decided having events didn't look too good. Oh and I've done some travel writing, and about to try and sell some photos.

Best thing about being freelance is you don't run a business that needs you to be there every day in order to get punters, if something takes your fancy you get to do it, only criteria is being able to pay the bills!!! (downside is when everyone entertainment's budgets get cut and no-one wants to give me any money :frown:).

Wouldn't have it any other way though!! Full time jobs do my nut :D

Damn
 

I do have to be there everyday,but at least I get to pick when and how long my holidays are!!!
Al theturtleshead

business
 

Bro, if you want to start your own business, you cant go ahead with a thought like that, if you think you will fail, you shouldn't even be starting. You get out of a business what you put in, simple as that.
positivity is 100% necessary. If you are thinking about internet cafes etc, just remember that everyone likes a smile, and treat customers as you would like to be treated yourself.
I owned and ran my own bar in london for 12 years, and it was my whole life, but a good one!
Go for it,
and keep smiling!
Dan

Er!
 

I hate to tell you this Dan,but I own two bars(one right now,I sold the other to fund my next project) a microbrewery and a mining geophysics business.
I will with any luck be opening a biker bar in Medellin Colombia.
But I get where you,re coming from!
Al theturtleshead

A Canadian perspective
 

I have owned and operated a mortgage brokerage business here on the west coast of Canada for the past six years. Considering the global meltdown in the credit markets things are actually looking pretty good. Through attrition we have adjusted our staffing down to where it is maintainable and we should weather the financial storm ok.

Actually I am hoping to sell in the next couple of months – we have been in merger talks with one of our long time competitors – and I will just stay on as a mortgage broker instead of an owner/manager. It will give me a lot more time for traveling and riding the bike.

Africa here we come J

Kevan aka Dirtpig

Damn
 

That sounds like a plan then!!!
Al theturtleshead

I run my own company (engineering and writing).

It’s project based and it fits my needs perfectly, I can work for a while then take some time off (weeks or months, maybe a year).
Even in harder periods I can always take a day off and do trips with the bike.

It pays very well but the downside is the security, no jobs available mean I don’t get paid. But it hasn’t been a problem for a few years.

Working 9-5 would be a nightmare…

Yeah I've done US to UK English too, for a company that had paid someone else to do French to US English and then realised it wanted UK English to sell to the Indian market (apparently Brits didn't count though).

Dropped you a PM - but I don't know with six posts if you can get it, so let me know on here if you didn't and I'll mail or something. Might have a bit of extra work for you every now and then if you'd like it.

And sorry for hijacking the thread slightly everyone, but you know, business is business.

I've just started up my own business through my part-time hobbies of dog training and handling.

Its all very early days (if anyone is a website designer and would like to do a 'heres one I made earlier' I'd really like to talk to you!), but am in negotiations with a larger dog walking/sitting company to combine efforts through a referral system.

Thankfully everyone needs a dog trainer it seems, regardless of economic climate!

I run my own business as a Diamond Drilling Contractor, it is NOT as glamorous as the name suggests, in fact it is downright dirty and physical but it does the trick of paying the bills.

Oh, and it does not involve drilling for diamonds, it is drilling with diamonds as the cutting media.

I have my own building company here in France. I started about 16 years ago and it used to be interesting but nowadays is just a means of paying the bills. I find it quite stressfull at times.

Yep
 

I know exactly how you feel!!!
Al

i run a canoe hire and tour business
 

on the murray river in oz ,i only work half the year i get to see hot chicks in bikinis every day,i was looking at opening a hostel/bar in cartagena ,colombia but decided i had it too good here
dave

I ran a website based biz selling action figures and dolls, non mainstream stuff, ebay as the advertising and referrals from a few of the designers as well. Had to give it up as it was just too much with a full time job and didnt fancy the gamble of relying on that alone. It was cheaper to buy at american retail import and pay tax than it was to buy from suppliers in the UK[or to sell uk versions back to the US] for alot of the stuff and I had a good network of folks picking up the rarer stuff for resale over here. Even now I am still selling off the leftover stock on ebay and like the website most of it goes over to europe. Germany, spain and italy were the main places must be a shortage of forbidden planet style shops there.

Yes I do own a business, anyone out there want to buy it??? Then I could get off this merry go round

It's not very stressful, really!!!!!

Reckon internet cafes are a dying phenomenon. Won't be more than a few years before travellers all have email and web on their mobile phones. I guess in poorer areas you might run a cafe for locals that can't afford their own computers, but thats not really the point is it?

From a personal point of view, I ran my own business and it sucked. I think it's only fun when you're making good money. I have a friend who runs his own and enjoys it, but says he'd never have employees again. So he works as a freelancer (IT of some description) and says it is much more relaxing. His opinion was that employees just added to his workload and stress.

Matt :)

If you need a capable barman ?????????????????????????????????????? :smartass:

I own and run a management consultancy in London.

We are doing OK, in fact at the moment we are flat out, but we do a lot of process change, merger type work and there is a lot of that going on at the moment. It's a case of make hay whilst we can, unfortunetly when things start to go really wrong our market starts to expand.

We (directors) were hoping to sell out in the next two years and retire, I wanted it done before I was 40. We did have some interest but were waiting on figures but I suspect with things getting tights it may have to wait a few years longer now, which is a pity!