Triumphrat

mad_angler

Sorry guys but i need to rant

i have been running a small business in the UK for 7 years, i employ 3 people and keep trying to keep going but this country is just become imposable to run a business in, every month it gets worse.

What is it with the last few governments that have screwed small business completely? governments as obsessed with big business must survive,they bail the banks out ect, but is it really big business that keeps the country afloat? , Big business generally only employes the highly qualified but what about your average Jo public, most people don't have lots of qualifications or degrees so where do they work? its the small employers who take up this gauntlet, most SME don't care about qualifications, what we want is hard working reliable staff, i have held many interviews over the years i have found the best staff often don't have any qualifications, these are people who are willing to work hard to earn a living, with out the small guys employing your average guy so many of the perceived unemployable would not have work, and how do we get thanked for keeping these guys in work, well we don't, an employee paid his tax on his wages then we pay tax based also in his wages for the privilege of having him, so the more we pay him the more tax we pay forcing us to keep wages low, then we get taxed heavily on any profits left at the end of the year, yes its only 33% tax and Ni on profits under £50K however considering most small business make less than £30K 33% of that is a large chunk even taking out personal allowance, we receive no benefit at all for keeping people in work, my accountant tells me this its the money the staff make me thats the benefit however is it really worth it in the end, by the time you pay all the Taxes, insurances and holidays there is barley a benefit to having them, in fact i only earn £2k more a year then them and i doing 80 hours a week making sure there is work for them to do.

Add to this the Minimum wage has stopped up taking on any apprentices, when i started working in 1996 i was paid a weekly wage of £30pw from my employer, after a year of hard work i earned a wage increase to £100, this taught me may things, hard work will get rewarded but you have to work to get it, after 3 years i was earning more than the other staff, however now to take on a young person i now have to pay them just over £190pw,thats £10K a year to an 18 year old who may never have worked a day in there life,im all for fair treatment and stopping exploitation however this is just stupid.

i think my paint to all of this is small business gets no recognition for the work it does, with out it the country would fall apart, but like like idiots we week soldering on tough all the crap they throw at us, why? well do we really have a choice

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Thunderbird 1700cc Big Bore - There's No Replacement For Displacement

steventhechef

Vent all you like.

You should come to Australia then. There are heaps of incentives for small business.

Grants, loans, business development, traineeships, apprentices. We still pay tax but the ability to go is still there with government assistance.

Our govt hasn't ****ed our country yet like the UK has.

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steventhechef

Eggs & Bacon. A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

Catenaccio

Small businesses by there very nature struggle. My brother owned a bicycle shop for five years. It survived because he was creative and willing to put the long hours in to make it work. However, when the city decided to redo the sewer/water lines in front of his and others' stores on the street. A year-and-a-half tearing up of the road, replacing pipe, etc., and he was forced to close simply because nobody could get to his shop. I've always thought the city was responsible. mad-angler, I'm saying simply I wish you the best of a bad situation.

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I like to reminisce with people I don't know.

MassiveAttack

Interesting. I don't recall deleting my fairly innocuous post.

Meh, who wants a forum with diverse opinions, anyway?

HiDesert

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I won't stop riding because you tell me about someone who died in an accident, just as I won't stop eating because someone died of e.coli.

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welshrob

Oh! When I first saw the title I thought it was going to be about prison...

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"An unarmed man can only flee from evil and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it."

Skye

Hey. I'm with you. We also have so many restrictions on small businesses around here. We know every custom shop, race shop in our area, and we all sing the same blues.

Taxes, taxes, taxes. Lots must have X amount of parking INCLUDING one handicapped spot. Sorry, I haven't had any handicapped folks come to our RACE shop wanting us to build them a race car. Nor have the Jeep guys down the road having a handicapped guy looking to have his Jeep lifted. Or the motorcycle customizer, having a handicapped guy looking for a chopper. Or the surfboard maker needing a handicapped version.

We had to rebuild our bathroom to make it handicapped capable. We had to have X amount of palm trees. If one dies, we have to replace it or get fined. X amount of shrubbery around the property. And if the grass isn't mowed each week, yup, fined.

We are in the process of hiring employees, and now I have to pay a fortune to pay for health care....but if I was Wal Mart, I'd make the guys work 38 hour week, then I wouldn't have to pay for their health care.....Why doesn't the government get involved with THAT? Oh yeah, their a big business.

Now we have to rethink more employees because work is sporadic and we can't guarantee the wages (we work by job, not hour), yet would still be required to pay the health. We would anyways, I don't want my guys getting sick on the job, but hey. This is alot of money coming out of my pocket per month. Do you really think they will cut a discount for small businesses to cover their employees? Heck no. So all the small businesses in this area that are hanging on by the tips of their fingernails are going to drop off because of the health care. Including the sign shops...surfboard shop .... used car lots.....small restaurants.....

It just seems to me, the government doesn't want small businesses at all. And you're right. There are more small businesses than big ones. Yet the government is steadily putting us out of business.

My husband owned a bike shop. WalMart started selling their bikes for half his cost, he ended up having to close the shop. He couldn't compete with WalMart prices. 5 employees done. Yet, WalMart won't fix or tune the bikes. You buy it, it's your problem. You buy the same bike from my husband, you ride it a month, bring it in, all levers are tightened and adjusted (for free), and you can bring your bike in anytime for servicing. Imagine these WalMart yahoos bringing in their bikes and wanting him to work on them because WalMart won't stand behind their product and fix problems. WalMart also will not carry the high end bikes he carried. But they had no problem putting him out of business.

Not to mention the taxes....taxes.....taxes. And it keeps going up.

richb

I really sympathise with anyone running a small business. It's the bank analogy. If you owe the bank $500,000 and can't pay, you've got a problem. If you owe it $500,000,000 and you can't pay, the bank has a problem.

However, to take your husband's business, isn't that an opportunity? Lots of people who may not otherwise have bothered, lured in by a cheap price tag and buying a bike from Walmart; those bikes probably not set-up right in the first place; bits will fall off and the type of person buying a bike from Walmart isn't the type to fix it themselves; all will need servicing periodically; all will need new tyres periodically, puncture repair kits, dayglo crash hats, Ben10 bicycle bells, whatever the next fad is. And you could keep the high end franchise for discerning bikers who want the after-market support you're offering...

Maybe the margins wouldn't be there... I don't know anything about the bike retail business, but saying Walmart closed you down is... well... giving up a bit easily, isn't it?

I officially do not know what I'm talking about, so don't be offended if I'm way off target. I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision to close.

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Knowing is no substitute for thinking.

Skye

After 2 years of losing money when WalMart picked up the contract for Canondale, Murray, Scwinn and Huffy. That started putting bikes out. Soon, you look at the $2500.00 per month rent, 5 employees, and you realize, you have to sell ALOT of bikes. Sell recumbents for $3500.00 with a small profit, is not a bread and butter stage. He sold a bunch of those, but then, they already had them, and most will not pay for a $3500.00 bike. You sell roadbikes, and have other shops also selling the same ones. Try to survive on selling tires, bike adjustments, and you start losing money.

A person that spends $125.00 on a bike, is not going to take care of it, as the passionate person that spends $350.00 on a bike. Come to think of it, how many people would spend $125.00 on their childs bike?

He sold exclusively for BMX for awhile. Top of the line bikes. But at $40.00 a whack for your kid to race.....and add on top of that that the BMX tracks now charge to camp on their lot. And soon, that $50.00 you used to spend supporting Johnnie race, is turning into $350.00 for a weekend to travel about to meet the state requirements and to reach nationals.

In this recession, who can afford that? We could have run a niche bike business, but niche doesn't pay the bills. Selling bikes does. And when you are undercut so badly, that you stop making a profit, it's not giving up easily, it's cutting off the bleeding before we're riding bikes for transportation.

P.S. I'm trying to talk Mark into adding a BMX bike racing business on the side of the racing business. Problem is, closest race track for BMX is 25 miles away, and not alot of kids doing freestyle anymore. After all, it's easier to race on Playstation, than in real life. Better to get a cheap WalMart bike, than get the specialty bike that was designed for the sport.

All us parents should be pushing our kids to ride bikes, rather than playstation. Lots of indoor tracks. When Mark raced, the state series were averaging 80 heats per day. Now, nationals have no more than 25.

Nations of couch potatoes and Playstation athletes.

richb

There you go. Said I didn't know what I was talking about.

My son aged four cycled all the way to the local village about four miles along winding country lanes (ATGATT and with me in front and Mum behind), on a bike with 10 inch wheels and no gears that weighed about half his body weight. When told by his Mum to "keep in close to the hedge" for the umpteenth time, he dismounted, threw his bike into the hedge and said 'Is THAT close enough for you!'
Then he got back on and continued to the village, stuffed his little face with an ice-cream the size of his head, turned round and pedalled home.

He did it because he "wanted an adventure". I was choked. Bless!

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Knowing is no substitute for thinking.