track19

[00:05.16] My name is Jane Milton, and my business is called Not

[00:07.79] Just Food.

[00:08.80] I: And what does your company do?

[00:10.80] J: Gosh. We ... we do a mix of food-related marketing things

[00:18.30] from recipe-writing to preparing food for photographs to

[00:23.80] organising exhibitions ...

[00:26.29] I: And what market research did you do before launching

[00:29.79] your company, and how did you go about it?

[00:32.54] J: Gosh. I was quite lucky, actually. I, um, was told about an

[00:36.05] organisation called the Training and Enterprise Council

[00:39.54] at that time, um, who ran business start-up courses, and

[00:44.54] J went on one of those, primarily really because at the

[00:49.29] end of it, they would help you to get any funding you

[00:52.04] needed, and you stood a better chance of getting money

[00:54.54] from a bank if you'd done one of their courses. Um ...

[00:57.29] and I had a great, the two men who tutored me through

[01:02.30] the eight weeks, I think, of one or two hours at a time,

[01:06.29] um, they were incredibly rigorous about the setting up

[01:12.29] of my business and how realistic my business plan was,

[01:15.04] and they made me phone ... cold-call companies to ask if

[01:20.79] they would use my services if I did this kind of work. And

[01:23.54] I nearly made myself ill doing it, I really hated the idea

[01:27.79] of doing it. But I phoned people and said, Tm not trying

[01:31.54] to sell you anything, I'm trying to do some research. Can

[01:34.05] you give me five minutes to answer some questions?' And

[01:37.04] some people said, 'Phone back another time,' and at that

[01:40.04] time I phoned back and about 50% of those initial people

[01:44.54] that I interviewed became clients when the business

[01:47.04] started. So it was a great system.

[01:49.55] I: So really there's nothing to beat doing your own ...

[01:52.54] doing your own market research rather than employing

[01:55.04] someone else to do it?

[01:56.79] J: I think that's probably right, I mean, I'm sure a marketresearch company could have done some, but even in

[02:01.54] the office when somebody else answers the phone and

[02:05.29] explains what we do, they're less successful at getting

[02:08.29] work than I am because I'm just much more enthusiastic

[02:11.55] about it, I think. And I think that ... that helps.

[02:14.79] I: And, um, what options were open to you for raising

[02:19.55] finance to start up?

[02:20.79] J: Um, initially I got a small business start-up loan at a very

[02:25.54] competitive rate with one of the banks, um, through this

[02:30.04] scheme that I'd been on, but, um, I didn't need much to

[02:34.29] start. I borrowed a laptop computer from somebody, um,and I just, you know, made do and I set up office in my

[02:42.05] spare bedroom and so my overheads weren't that high

[02:46.54] initially, and I also took a part-time job at first, so that I

[02:49.30] had enough income just to pay my most basic bills while I

[02:53.29] got started.

[02:55.04] 1: What do you think is important when looking for finance

[02:59.05] for a start-up?

[02:59.79] J: I think you have to be realistic about how much money

[03:02.04] you need, and also realistic about how much you can

[03:05.29] afford to pay back, 'cause obviously nobody lends you

[03:08.80] it without wanting it back, and so you have to be sure

[03:13.05] that whatever you borrow, you could meet the monthly

[03:15.54] repayments ...