Business Development
In the process of setting up my business I realised that sharing my experience could be useful to anyone else wanting to start a business. This is not a tutorial. I am not a business adviser. This is just me sharing my own personal experience.
2 Year Delay: Finding The Best Business Adviser For Me & My Business
For reasons outside of my control, my business experienced a set back of over 2 years.
When I first needed a business adviser I was on disability benefit with limited capability for work. This meant that I only had access to JobCentre adjacent business programmes and advisers. For anyone fortunate enough to have never been in this situation, this means that the business advisers you are assigned to have more control over your activities than they should have. If you are seen as failing to comply with the terms of your benefit agreement (such as not completing activities set by your adviser, work coach, etc) then your benefits can be stopped. In that situation, should you be placed with a business adviser who is not a good fit for your business or you, you might be stuck doing tasks that hold you in place or set you back until you find out who you need to speak to in order to get a suitable adviser. That’s not as easy as it sounds because you could end up with several advisers across a few organisations with none of them knowing who you need to speak to. Resolving that issue cost me so much time and money that a little over 2 years after incorporating my business it only just reached the the point it was supposed to be at 2 months after incorporation. Even now I’m not sure what I could have done differently. I provided a clear business plan. I went to the business adviser with a clear list of what I needed help with. At the time that was just how to incorporate my business, how to fill out certain things for HMRC and Companies House, and a little bit of marketing help because the marketing I’d done prior to that was for different kinds of businesses that predominantly used marketing campaigns and resources that would not have had the reach needed for my business. The business adviser explained one thing to me that I might not otherwise have known. That being how best to price shares in my company. Everything else he effectively sent me away to do myself and would appear irritated if I struggled. That could have been worse. It cost me a little time because I would wait for meetings I’d been told were for someone to go through the “scary” things with me to ensure I didn’t make any mistakes.
The first time you do anything with HMRC or Companies House it is scary because the websites can be confusing and you really don’t want to get anything wrong. However, if you’re stuck their customer service email is very useful. I found that they take a long time to reply though so I usually allow at least an extra week if I have to do anything I might have to email them about.
The biggest issue I had with that initial business adviser though was that he exaggerated his skillset and resources, he did not tell me about or refer me to services and resources the company he worked for were supposed to refer people in my situation to as standard, he never admitted when he couldn’t help (“I’ll get back to you or get someone else to get back to you” is not a suitable answer if it’s repeated every time you chase something up), and he insisted I spend funds earmarked for business essentials on things that my business could not use at the time and was not expected to be able to use for a very long time (if they ever became useful at all). Even when the adviser insisted the company he worked for would reimburse me, no reimbursements ever came through. After losing far more money to this than I could afford to lose I was able to be transferred to a different business adviser and I was able to speak to the manager. It took a lot longer than it should have for me to get the manager to speak to me about the issues with the first adviser. However, the manager of that company explained that they were not able to reimburse anything the original adviser had assured me would be reimbursed. The manager also informed me that the original adviser had misrepresented what that company was able to assist with, effectively saying they had wasted my time and money and there was nothing I could do about it. Although time and money were both valuable, losing the money was far worse because it takes even more time to recoup the loss. Essentially, if that company had been able to reimburse me then I would only have lost about 1 year. Because that company was unable to reimburse me I’ve had to spend an additional year recovering from the financial loss caused by that first adviser.
After that experience I became very good at telling advisers that if they want me to do something that makes no sense to me they can provide details of what they want me to do and why they believe it’s the best course of action even when it makes no sense to me in writing before I will do it. That might sound like a scary thing to do. One of the things I have had to keep reminding myself is that asking for help, additional information or clarity is not the same as refusing to co-operate. If you have to ask an adviser to clarify that what they’re asking you to do won’t waste a lot of time and money, nobody being reasonable is going to be upset with you. I have AuDHD and RSD which makes me think that everyone is always upset with me all the time, so if you’re here because you also have AuDHD and RSD and like watching me cope with mine, you might need to hear that last sentence again in a slightly different way:
Nobody being reasonable is going to be upset with you because you need help. Nobody being reasonable is going to be upset with you for needing additional information or clarity. Nobody being reasonable is going to be upset with you for trying to avoid a bad situation. Asking questions and making sure you understand what you're agreeing to does not mean you're doing anything wrong. In fact, I personally think based on my own experiences that it is vital to understand anything you’re agreeing to because it is unwise to put yourself in a situation where you could potentially be held liable for something you don’t even understand.
As for how I found the right advisers for me and my business…
Finding the right service or adviser for you and your business has a bit of a learning curve. In my case, I spent a couple of years trying to find certain things, then, by a strange turn of events, I was sent to speak to an adviser about a totally different issue, and he ended up directing me to the resources and advisers the original adviser should have directed me to 2 years earlier. The learning curve this could require is going to sound like something we probably all think we’re really good at: research. I spent so much time over those 2 years searching online and asking everyone I thought might have known what I needed, and it was the adviser who I least expected to have the answer who ended up having the answer. Now, he did have to get that answer from one of his contacts who I wouldn’t have had any contact with if it hadn’t been for him. However, at my first appointment with an adviser at the company I’m now working with for business advice, the first adviser I spoke to there told me that they had been running since a year before I was referred to the previous place when starting my business, and the previous place is supposed to send cases like mine to the company I’m working with now as standard. The interesting thing about this is that someone close to me who I speak with at length most days actually spends a fair bit of time in the building this company is in and never even knew it would be the right service for me. My web searches never brought this company up.
It’s worth noting that certain resources are available by postcode so if you’re based in a rural area you might have less options available to you. If that’s the case then a lot of things will come down to finding ways to improve your research skills that work for you and essentially becoming your own adviser. That’s not easy but it is a valuable skill.
I don’t want to specifically recommend services, advisers, CPD courses, etc here because the ones that helped me might not help you and this page isn’t about listing every resource that helped me. A few tips though…
… Different search engines prioritise results in ways you might not expect. It might not be that you aren’t entering the correct search terms, you might also need to research how your preferred search engine prioritises the kinds of results you’re looking for. For example, if you’re looking for a free CPD first aid course (which is something I think most postcode areas should offer) and you’re only seeing paid courses, that’s not likely to be a problem with your search term.
… If you’re really struggling to find something, ask everyone. Stupid example incoming but your mechanic’s best friend might run the course you need or something.
… Don’t assume the service you have already been referred to is the only service available to you. Different organisations can have overlapping purposes but very different resources, contacts and areas of expertise. If something you need is outside the scope of the service you’re using, ask if there is another organisation they can refer you to. Don’t assume they will offer that information before you ask even if you later find out they were supposed to as standard.
… Be very specific about what you actually need help with. “I need business advice” is incredibly broad. “I need help getting more traffic to my website” or “I need to know which local services offer free marketing training” gives someone a much better chance of either answering the question or knowing who can. It doesn’t guarantee that they will know or that there is anything available in your area. Bonus points if you already know what kind of marketing you need help with. You don’t need someone telling you where you can leave stacks of flyers if the thing you’re actually struggling with is getting your promotional materials to display correctly on a specific social media platform.
… Ask what a service actually offers before investing too much time in it. Two organisations might both describe themselves as offering business support while providing completely different kinds of help. Finding out what they can and can’t help with early can save a lot of time. Bonus points if you can get multiple people to verify this. The first place I was sent to only let me speak to the one adviser who turned out to be misrepresenting the service so I thought I knew what the service offered but only had the one source of information.
… Keep asking the same question in different places if you still don’t have an answer. I made the mistake at times of assuming that if several people didn’t know where to find something, it probably wasn’t available. Sometimes it just means you haven’t asked the person who knows yet.
… Don’t assume that someone knowing an organisation exists means they know what it actually does. The person close to me I mentioned earlier knew the building and spent time there but still didn’t know it contained the business support I needed. Sometimes even asking “do you know somewhere that does this?” isn’t enough, you might have to investigate services people around you already know about for completely different reasons.
… Remember that things change over time. Whether that is an industry, you, or something else. Things that weren’t possible could become possible, things that used to work may stop working or stop being the optimal option, things need updating from time to time. Taking steps to ensure that you and your business can adapt to change can be useful. Shout out to my fellow AuDHD people here: Set a reminder for when you need to update anything like first aid training, and check when different things need updating. I recently discovered that different first aid training needs refreshing at totally different intervals.
Perhaps the biggest thing I learnt from all of this is that finding the right adviser isn’t necessarily about finding someone who knows everything. Nobody does. What matters far more to me now is finding someone who understands what they can help with, is willing to say when something falls outside of their expertise, and, where possible, knows where to direct me when somebody else is better suited to answer a question.
Building A Business Without Getting Into Debt
One of the biggest things I learnt from losing money following bad advice was that I don’t want Nekrotikk Ltd relying on loans, large amounts of stock, expensive advertising campaigns, employees, or anything else that means I have to spend a lot of money before finding out whether something works. Wherever possible I start with things I already have, test whether something works, then put money into it if there’s evidence that doing so is worthwhile.
Monetise Social Media Even If It’s Only Used For Advertising
HMRC now recognises social media and online content creation as a viable method of self-employment. This meant 2 very important things for my small business:
…1… If I’m life coaching someone who wants to be an online content creator but is currently on benefits and has been pointed in the direction of more traditional jobs, I don’t have to rain on their parade. I can instead ask the client what their adviser needs to see to class their idea as viable.
…2… When social media is the main advertising for a business, making sure the social media is monetised has the potential to generate revenue before the area of the business it’s promoting. This is not guaranteed but searching Statista’s database shows that this can be the case, particularly when looking at trends in how many people see something like a YouTube video in which the creator talks about a product or service vs how many of those people then go on to purchase the product or try the service. A less modern example would be to look at how many people a street fundraiser talks to vs how many actually sign up. The social media being how many people you speak to and the sign ups being how many people actually go on to purchase the product or service.
Seeing a hobby I’ve had for a while turn into both the legitimate best way to promote my business and a government recognised valid way to earn a living has, necessarily, changed the structure of my business and altered the original business plan I had. Changes to life circumstances, resources, and a few other factors have also necessitated some changes. I have worked with some advisers who saw my ability to quickly adapt to new information as either indecisiveness on my part or as someone else potentially influencing my decisions. I’ve had to clarify to them that being adaptable is an asset, that changes in circumstances and abilities can happen quite fast, and that the only changes to my business and business plan I was ever in any way pressured into was when that first business adviser at the first place the JobCentre referred me to erroneously told me that my benefits would stop if I didn’t follow his instructions.
Useful Links:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/94522?hl=en-GB&utm_
Nekrotikk Ltd. Mission Statement
The goal of Nekrotikk Ltd is to allow me to have a job I enjoy that allows me to live the life I want to live.
Focus On Online Work For Now
One of the biggest things I had to do in order to launch my business sustainably was to focus on online aspects of my business with virtually no start-up costs such as tarot reading, COTW, digital content, etc. Anything requiring equipment, materials, training, etc that I don’t already have gets postponed until such a time as it can be included without the need for loans.
Current Abilities & Future Plans
My intention and hope is to eventually be able to use all of my skills as business assets. At present I am dealing with some health conditions and life changes such as Spartanising for moving and vanlife that limit which of my skills are currently usable. Because my website already showcases the active parts of my business, I’ll use the rest of this section predominantly to talk through future plans. If you notice something used to be listed here but has been removed without a note explaining its removal, that means it became an active part of my business rather than a future plan.
… Lessons. I have a lot of skills I’d love to teach. Either as video tutorials or as classes you can book for. Until I’ve moved any tutorials, educational content, and lessons will have to be subjects that don’t require a full workshop. The process of Spartanising and sorting things to move has resulted in not having a lot of space and not always knowing exactly where things are. I have people helping me Spartanise so occasionally someone puts something somewhere sensible but can’t then remember where it is when I need it.
Note: My intention here is to create video lessons/tutorials on spec while providing the option for bespoke tutoring should someone require it. These lessons will all be one to one because if someone would benefit from a group class then the generic video tutorials and lessons would usually be enough. I want to offer a tailored service.
… Custom Crafts Extended Gallery. To create this I either need to locate an external hard drive I have no idea which of around 100 boxes it’s in in order to find photos of past work, then see if I can actually post that work online - I save photos with the details of whether the person who commissioned it gave permission for it to be used in my physical or online portfolio. Many people do not want custom pieces displayed online. Alternatively, once I’ve moved and set up my workshop I will be able to create spec/sample pieces. These will be displayed in my online portfolio and then listed for sale. I will more than likely be offering lower prices to anyone who permits their custom order to be displayed in my online portfolio at least while I build the portfolio up.
Note: This includes but is not limited to tattooing and tattoo design (currently on a break from tattooing but still able to work on designs), textiles, clothing making and design, leather working, woodworking, fursona design and fursuit making, LARP gear design and making, jewellery design and making, resin work, dreadlock and cyberlox design and making (these can be braid in, clip in, or loose ended to crochet into existing dreads - note that I can install dreads, cyberlox, and braids but i’m not currently set up with the transport and mobile stall that would be required to make that option an active part of my business), etc.
… Travel vlogging. This has to wait until I’ve Spartanised, moved, and got a van. Tenting with a cat is far more complicated and stressful than I’d like travel vlogging to be. Spartanising and moving are bottlenecks for some other areas of my business so the logical way to do things is to deal with those things before travel vlogging. I’m reluctant to put a date on this in case I miscalculate how long things will take, but I’m hoping to have everything I need to do first done by the end of September 2026 so that travel vlogging can begin in October 2026.
… Falconry. I’m not sure how I’ll get to incorporate this into my business but I really want to.
… Tiny House Camper Van Builds. The plan here is that I will buy a used van, vlog the process of converting it into a camper, travel vlog in it, buy a second van, convert it, sell the first, etc. The goal is to vlog the process of getting from a cheap used work van to a narrowboat I’d want to live on. If that also produces custom orders for van builds then great. I currently have the skills to do most of the work myself and can always do a CPD course for anything I can’t do already.
Why Nekrotikk Ltd Does So Many Things
The practical business reason for this is that having multiple aspects to a business prevents any issues that could arise from one particular product or service experiencing a dip in popularity.
The practical reason for me personally as an individual is that I am AuDHD and I have a lot of special interests, I have difficulty in more traditional mainstream jobs and working environments, and after so many years of fighting my AuDHD and losing it turned out that working with my AuDHD actually produces sustainable results without burnout.