Meet Sam, 22, from Edinburgh and find how he set up his own car valeting business, Fresh Car Valeting. Part of our Bitesize world of work series.
Sam:
Hi, I'm Sam I'm twenty two years old and I'm the owner of a mobile car valeting company. While I was in university, I did a module called entrepreneurship in the global economy. You had to do a project to make up her own company as a trial. I actually made this business, Fresh Car Valeting as my project. As the project went on, I saw how real it could become and decided that maybe I should try to do this in the real world for myself.
Six months in and the business started to really take off. I didn't know if I should leave and pursue the business full time or if I should stick with my studies. I decided that in order to leave, the business would need to turn over ten thousand pounds a month. If that was the case, I was going to not go back to university and leave forever. The business was turning over twenty five thousand pounds and we had ten employees in total. I decided not to go back to university and to pursue this business as my full-time carere. When I first started Fresh Car, at the time, it was just me and a van on my own. Since then, we've expanded to Glasgow, we've opened a workshop, reached the point in Edinburgh. We were serving, so many people's cars, we were finding it hard to find new customers. The strategy that I decided on, was to open in new areas, as well as open new services, including this workshop. In school I studied Business Management. It was the first time I really thought about going off and doing something on my own in the business world. I learnt to solve problems. I learnt how to do some of the accounting and I learnt how marketing worked and a lot of those things I still use today.
My role's changed a lot since I started this company. After a year or so, my role became completely office-based. It's now, all about communication.
My main job is to create the vision of what the company is going to look like in the future. I have to work with staff, with suppliers, with customers and with investors to make sure that we're all on the same page, so that the future of the company is secure.
Sam's employee:
What makes Sam a good boss is that he's very young and he still very flexible in making his decisions, so he always actively seeks for feedback and he listens to people and based on that he can make accurate decisions that are good for us as employees and for the business.
Sam:
For me, leaving university was one of the best decisions that ever I made. It was really scary, but it was also really exciting. I get to work with people that I like on ideas that I like and most importantly, on cars that I like.
For me leaving university was one of the best decisions I ever made. It was really scary, but it was also really exciting.
- Sam studied Business Management at school, which included topics such as Accounting and Marketing, then went on to university
- His business idea grew from a project he had worked on at university. His business was so successful that he decided not to go back to university and to pursue it as his full-time career
- He started valeting cars from a van on his own, then expanded his business to take on staff and set up new areas. His role is now office-based and he uses the skills he's developed, including good communication skills, to create and manage his company.
What to expect if you want to be a business owner
The salary and working hours when you own a business can vary enormously but what's most important is that you work hard and love what you do.
Working for yourself looks different for each person and each business, but in general it means you:
- run your own business and are responsible for its success
- can decide how, when and where you do your work
- charge an agreed, fixed price for your work
- sell goods or services to make a profit
- can hire people at your own expense to help you or to do the work for you.
You can be both employed and self-employed at the same time. You can work for your employer during the day, for example, and run your own business in the evenings and at weekends. It’s important to contact HMRC for advice if you’re not sure if you’re self-employed.
You can get help with setting up or developing your business, through the government’s business support services, for example, for advice about tax or about how to find funding to start your business.
This information is a guide (source: GOV.UK).
For careers advice in all parts of the UK visit: National Careers Service (England), nidirect (Northern Ireland), My World of Work (Scotland) and Careers Wales (Wales).
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