Where has today gone?

One of those days I'm afraid! Luke, who you can normally set your clock by, decided that he wouldn't have his usual 90 minute nap at lunch, and has just finally given in at 5pm! So everything I planned to do this afternoon has gone pear-shaped.

However I did manage to get through a few items on my task list (from our board meeting on Saturday), mainly to do with chasing up the banks and the PR companies were are in discussions with, but not what you could say major progress. Anyhow I've got an hour now to write up some more of the blog, then I will have to make the tea, and then prepare tonight for my 'day job' tomorrow - work/life balance eh?

So, back to the story...rewind to January 2005.

I had been thinking for while about the 'perfect' business. As a chartered accountant and business advisor, I'd seen a fair few failures, and also many successes. And realised that you didn't have to be a genius to be very successful, you just had to have a good idea, a lot of persistence and some creativity. So I reckoned that if I was going to have my own business, it had to have the following attributes:

1. The business shouldn't be reliant upon my input as the limiting factor in the growth of the business (this is a personal thing, as I want to start and grow the business and then be able to get 'time freedom' as quickly as possible. It's the whole point of being able to run my own business - flexibility for the family whilst being financially comfortable and secure)
2. It either has to provide a product/service which is niche and high value, or have mass market appeal with a low price
3. The business needs to be scaleable, without any major scarce resource (eg fixed employee or machinery hours etc)
4. To have overheads/fixed costs which are as low as possible (so that you can break-even on a fairly low turnover)
5. The product should preferably not be a fashionable item or have laws or regulations that will change quickly (the reason I didn't specialise in tax as an accountant!)
6. And ideally the business should not have to deal with any stock issues, such as storage, delivery and suppliers - (ie it had to be a service!)

So, that's my idea of utopia!

Well, in early January 2005, I think I had an idea for that perfect business which is exactly suited to me. And nearly ten months later I still believe that, because here I am, planning our business's launch for March 2006. Who is 'our'? What is the business? The wok is calling me (no, not Luke! The cooking vessel!), so I'll carry on the story tomorrow....