Multiple Matching

A Hannah, soup and sandwich van

When I left my job as a school cook, the plan was to sell homemade soup from a van at farmers’ markets. I’d been saving for years to put down a deposit on a flat, and in the end that money went on the van instead – my parents thought I’d gone mad. The soup went down well, but within a month people kept asking whether I did anything they could eat with one hand while walking round the stalls. So I started making hot filled rolls, and now they’re what most people queue for; the soup has become almost a side dish. The hardest part is that the business only works if I’m there. The markets run every weekend, all year round, and if the van doesn’t turn up, customers soon find somewhere else to go. I haven’t had a proper holiday since I started. A friend who runs a café gave me some brilliant tips before I opened, which saved me from a lot of beginners’ mistakes.

B Callum, bicycle repairs

I’d worked in a big bike shop for six years when the owner, Mike, told me I was wasted there and ought to set up on my own. Coming from him, that meant a lot. I didn’t have any savings to speak of, so I got a small loan from the bank and rented a unit on an industrial estate. Three months in, a pipe burst over a weekend and the whole place flooded. At the time I honestly thought that was the end of it, but the insurance paid out, and I took the chance to move into an empty shop on the high street. I get twice as many customers now, simply because people walk past. What I love is that I’ve got to know half the neighbourhood – people pop in to ask about a squeaky brake and end up staying to chat for half an hour. The paperwork I could do without, but an accountant deals with most of it, so it hardly takes up any of my time.

C Priya, handmade pottery

I’d been making pots in my spare time for years, and it was customers at a craft fair who first said I should do it full time. What I hadn’t appreciated was how little of my week would actually be spent making things. Answering emails, photographing every piece for the website, packing orders, doing the accounts – it easily takes up half my working hours, and none of it is what I went into business to do. My biggest mistake, though, was pricing. I charged far too little at the start because I didn’t want to seem greedy, and I was working all hours for almost nothing. There’s a small business advice centre ten minutes from my house, and I only went there after nearly a year. They sorted out my prices in a single afternoon. If I’d walked through their door in the first month, I’d have saved myself a great deal of stress. I do manage to take the odd week off, as long as I let my customers know well in advance.

D Ollie, houseplant shop

Before opening the shop, I managed a branch of a large clothing chain, and to be honest it was the best training I could have had. I already knew how to order stock, organise staff and deal with difficult customers, so none of that came as a surprise. What did come as a shock was a supplier going out of business two weeks before Christmas, which left me with half-empty shelves at the busiest time of the year. I lost a lot of money, and I can’t say any good came of it. The thing that has changed most is me. In my old job, every decision had to be approved by head office, and I’d got used to waiting for someone else to say yes. Now I have to make the call myself, often in a matter of minutes, and I’ve found I worry about getting it wrong far less than I used to. My sister looks after the shop whenever I want a break, which makes a huge difference.