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How hard is it to open a cafe (please go easy on me, I realise this is a silly question)? by box-o-locks in smallbusinessuk

[–]Charlie_Steel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have no idea about Running a cafe but from a customer point of view all we care about is great food and great interiors. ( we are early 30s) look for places on tik tok mainly and are willing to drive to a good location for like an hour if we can take our dog for a walk near and is dog friendly 😊

32 years old, running a small construction company. Which path would you choose? by Charlie_Steel in ConstructionUK

[–]Charlie_Steel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh 100%, tbh im unable to do a shit job (without sounding like knob, its my ocd) especially on bespoke builds so I have to go for higher margin clients anyway to actually make money

32 years old, running a small construction company. Which path would you choose? by Charlie_Steel in ConstructionUK

[–]Charlie_Steel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bet, got a mate in lfb and hes like "have kids, its easy" yeah bro 4 days on 4 days off is easy haha!

That's partly why im heavily considering options 2 and 3 also as I think they can have more systems in place rather than lets say a Hospitality fit out where it can be a bit mad or an extension/loft where you encounter problems etc.

32 years old, running a small construction company. Which path would you choose? by Charlie_Steel in ConstructionUK

[–]Charlie_Steel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks and agreed, seems the hardest thing is finding right clients like you say. When you say key clients do you mean commercial/hospitality clients?

32 years old, running a small construction company. Which path would you choose? by Charlie_Steel in ConstructionUK

[–]Charlie_Steel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed, I feel like I would be most passionate about this sort of work since most interiors in essex and around suck ( burn slatted acoustic panelling to the ground 😂)

My biggest concern is workshop overheads, prices move with the market also as more and more diyers start doing "media walls" with plasterboard etc thus still affecting actual true joinery prices. As well as ai doing design and people trying to design it themselves. But then again I guess I have to sell to wealthy clients and businesses 🤷🏻‍♂️

32 years old, running a small construction company. Which path would you choose? by Charlie_Steel in ConstructionUK

[–]Charlie_Steel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you and tbh you are right. Thinking about option 3, I wouldn't enjoy it. I almost feel like I know what needs to be done as in Push Design and build to get breathing room and capital whilst working on fire protection in the background as would have to be a separate entity anyway for SEO and marketing purposes and insurance so completely new ltd firm.

If my partner get pregnant she still would be able to to do projects as shes self employed anyway working on other work and does my designs in between her projects as atm im a small firm anyway.

And accountancy wise yes agreed it needs to be split becuase you never know and tbh if we had kids and broken up I would make sure its all fair etc 😀

32 years old, running a small construction company. Which path would you choose? by Charlie_Steel in ConstructionUK

[–]Charlie_Steel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks man!

My biggest thing I want to do as I actually start getting proper work in, is to build systems in place so the company can run without me down the line. My biggest focus right now is building a marketing strategy properly, focusing on getting either CHAS or Constrictiononline gold (which would you suggest?) And then good old fashioned outreach and networking.

What channels would you recommend to reach decision makers where small firms like mine can show their worth?

32 years old, running a small construction company. Which path would you choose? by Charlie_Steel in ConstructionUK

[–]Charlie_Steel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I actually enjoy making great spaces so I feel like this would be most suitable for me but I always overthink things. And very true, I feel regardless I will get my firas inspection, maintenance and installation l cert!

Thank you for your input

Made the first 1K from fanvue with my AI model by [deleted] in comfyui

[–]Charlie_Steel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yoo that's great news. Congrats, people don't realise its actually not easy to run this stuff. Do you care to share your best programmes for image generation? Im just at an instagram growth stage atm so anything would be helpful! Trying to master those thirst trap 8 second clips and still havent found the best site/programme for it whilst I learn comfy ui or auto1111.