Ideas for quick finance please

[SafaaMassage]

It looks like I have a chance of a treatment room. I have a bit of time as the owner of the room is on holiday till 11th January. Room comes with a lot, utilities, use of A board, use of all equipment even tissues wipes and candles.

However as far as I know the equipment is a massage bed and for my technique I trained on a massage chair. There are units you can get to attach to the bed and use an ordinary chair but apart from the fact it doesnt look too professional I have heard they are not the most stable of things.

I am trying to avoid approaching family and wondered whats the best way to get a small amount of funding to buy a chair and a uniform quickly so I dont lose the room?

I have my first meeting with my startup adviser at Business Gateway on the 13th but just wondered if anyone had any ideas ahead of time

Merry Christmas all

 

[AJEKLimited]

Hi there,

It really depends on how much you are looking for and what your options are, would you not be able to approach your bank for a small personal/business loan or credit card?

It’s quite a short timescale and being the time of year it is it may make it more difficult in dealing with the bank.

There are also Guarantor loans if you wish to get the money quickly, but these would require a friend/family member to 'vouch' for you. But expect very high interest levels. On the other hand if you pay the loan back quickly, i.e. before full term, then interest payments are much lower than if you were to let it run its full course.

I’m not sure how much you require and I’m only speculating that it may be £1000 or under? If that’s the case and it does become critical for your business to have the room, then there is always The Provident, but in my opinion there nothing more than legalised Loan Sharks operating through people’s desperation and I would steer clear.

Merry Xmas and all the best for 2010.


Is approaching your family definitely a no-go?

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

I think you need to give the room some more thought before jumping in there and over committing yourself. Just because you have the room dont automatically assume that you'll automatically have clients. The last think you want is to have committed to rent without any real source of income coming in.

On the finance from is something like Ebay of any use or even look at a car boot sale. Gather up lots of stuff that you dont need and either stick them on Ebay or find out where the bigger type car boots are. There's a saying along the lines that one mans rubbish is anothers treasure (I'm sure it's more eloquent than that )

One things for sure, no one is going to hand you the money in the current climate that isn't a friend or family member. Like Ajek says above dont be silly and go for some sort of doorstep lender.

I think if you think about it enough you could come up with things to sell that you no longer use etc. That's certainly the first area I would be looking at.

Just to add as well i'm not trying to sounds negative in any big way maybe just realistic. I do wish you all the best with it and please keep us up to date with how it all goes.

 

[SafaaMassage]

Lol . I know exactly where you are coming from and I have been trying to sell unwanted stuff like you suggested. Just that things arent selling at the moment.

I know having a treatment room doesnt mean I will automatically have clients but its a bit chicken and egg in that if I have to have somewhere to treat people before I can have clients. Being a female that will be working on my own I feel if safer to work out of 'spa' premisis than in people's homes and as I have a day job the corporate route, going to peoples offices, wouldnt enable me to have a regular set of appointments and I dont have the space in my home to work from there either. I still have to go to see the room and to see the full terms and conditions of rental so no commitment has been made as yet

 

[Gouldie0]

Hi SafaaMassage,

I think you need to decide whether your ready to commit to the lease of a room for business use. I guess it's the age old 'chicken before the egg' scenario............. Do I get the room without any clients and hope things pick up quickly or do I do it gradually and reduce my hours and work from peoples homes, places of work or a rented room.

Have you drawn up a business plan, did you investigate what you're competitors were charging, do you have the option of using a personal credit card ............... just a couple of things you've raised previously. I don't want to come across as pessimistic but these are all factors that you need to take into consideration. The most important one being, how much money do I have available, how much can i afford to spend and how long will it last?

Seeing a Business Gateway Advisor is a definite, they should be able to give you information around finance, inparticular grants etc.

Out of interest, how much roughly does a chair cost? If you were to purchase one, would you be able to sell it on easily?

Good luck and all the best, remember Rome wasn't built in a day.

Kind Regards

Neil

 

[John Clark 555]

Hi SafaaMassage

Hopefully at your meeting with the start-up adviser at Business Gateway, they will have put you on track for their suite of courses on Business Planning, Marketing and Accounting. They should also (hopefully) have started the process of getting you to apply for a start-up grant from your local Council. The amount will vary, depending on where you are operating. If you are under 25 you may also be eligible to apply to the Princes Trust for some funding. In both cases these are probably non-refundable.
Although the application process will stretch beyond your immediate concerns, going through the Planning and Application processes will help distil your thinking and lead to making a better decision.
You may also wish to give more thought to the option of "having a Chair" within an existing Spa or Fitness Centre as a short term step to greater things.That would allow you to grow your commitment alongside growing your client base.
Although it's a sad fact that your personal enthusiasm will not make up for a lack of clientèle - you need that enthusiasm to get going at all, so don't be disheartened by minor setbacks.
Best of luck with it. I look forward to reading of your success

John Clark 555

 

[SafaaMassage]

Thanks for the advice and support. Being new I throw out a lot of questions and see where they land and I am sure I drive the more experienced business people mad

 

[John Clark 555]

Very glad to have been of help. Out of personal curiosity I was looking to see how much these things cost and came across the following website: Supatherapy.com
which has portable chairs from about £160.00. These may not be what you are looking for, but worth a look.

 

[SafaaMassage]

John, thanks for the link. Wirh portable massage chairs its like a lot of things you get what you pay for. You can even get chairs for under £50 on ebay but they are not to be recommended. The better and more lasting chairs go from about £250 upwards to about £400-£500

 

[brian@fbdconsultancy.co.u]

Quickest easiest method is Credit Card. You can get interest free on credit cards for 12 months. So as long as you pay the amount back before the expiry of interest free period, loan is free!

 

[Needhelp]

Have you checked out crowd funding sites such as:-

https://www.fundingcircle.com/uk/

I have used them in the past and found them to be extremely quick and easy.

 

[Employer]

When you say a small amount, how much are you talking about?

I am sure there must be some small business grants available - not that you would want to open a new business just yet. But after Covid-19 is all over I would investigate grants, it is in the government's best interest for you to be working rather than unemployed.

 

[Goingitalone]

If all else failed in the short term, have you got credit cards you could use? This would be a last resort but could give you up to a months free credit assuming you can bring sufficient money in to pay off the card at the end of the month.

 

[Ujin19]

Although the idea of quick financing is now more relevant than ever, but I do not think that this is possible at the moment, given https://computools.com/top-4-challenges-facing-banks-in-2019/, Banks are reluctant to lend to small businesses . I hope that after quarantine the situation will change

 

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good advice

 

[Aaron Reed]

so many good advice listed here