Money, Money, Money...

must be funny...

Now that was a different experience. My first meeting with our business banking account manager (lovely lady by the name of Marie). Forget all you know about traditional banking as a consumer - as a business it's back to the dark ages.

As a business I have to pay for the privilege of banking, and for nearly everything I do to my money in my account. It's weird, and although I have a good credit balance in the account, I have to be credit checked in order to be able to process payments electronically. I can still write cheques (something I haven't done on my personal account for about 5 years), but it all feels very clunky in terms of "customer experience". I am used to the funky internet banking experience and this is a far cry.

Additionally, the traditional hierarchy of account management is interesting too. We have our account manager (Marie), an associate account manager (Stuart) and a customer services executive (Simi). It's difficult to work out what they do differently apart from Marie is at the top and Simi at the bottom - but I am sure it's all with good reason.

Anyway - it was an important but positive meeting and we are moving forward. Cashflow and P&L projections look good, sales are lining up nicely. All is rosey in the world.

storyline 2 - the business

Starting your own business is hard. Now that may not come as a surprise to many, but this revelation is key to understanding what drives people to do "their own thing". It is hard, but it is also one of the most liberating things to do. After 14 (mostly happy) years in corporate IT it is a big change to know that whatever you do (or don't do) directly affects your business. There is no middle ground, there is no middle "man" (or woman), there is very little point in "manana" as an attitude.

It is also ball-breakingly scary. Oh - and it's a lot of work, and very different work. There are so many people you have to inform/register with in order to start a company - and a lot of hoops to go through... Here is a list of things to complete...

• Company registration
• Shareholders agreements
• VAT registration
• PAYE registration
• Data Protection register
• Corporation Tax registration
• Accountants
• HR policies
• Employee handbook
• Invoicing system/process
• Business plan
• Profit and Loss budget
• Cashflow projections/actuals
• Contract templates
• Recruitment
• Investment agreements
• Payroll
• business banking
• Website
• Logos/stationery
• Telecoms
• email services
  

and the list goes on.... On top of that you have to go out, find people to work for you and find business to do. What they don't tell you, but is really kind of obvious is that as a startup you have no credibility or history - so many companies do not want to work with you. So - one of the most important points is to either have existing relationships you can rely on to get you business or a company that does exist that is willing to subcontract to you until you gain credibility.

Panto rehearsal Sunday 16th

For those who are uninitiated - I am in a Pantomime (Aladdin) this year, raising money for a local charity (Phyllis Tuckwell). It's supposed to be a bit of fun with local people from the village getting together and running amok on stage. However, as the total cast and crew number over 50, and we have sold a grand total of 560 tickets for all performances - the pressure is starting to build.

Last night was a run through of act 2 and half of act 1. We spent quite a lot of time on the singing (Abba, Madness, Oliver, Tom Jones etc...). Still more time needed. But not as much as is needed on the dancing and singing at the same time. I also got to go through my striptease (don't panic - it's all in good taste!) which was funny and surprisingly not as embarrassing as I thought... Although it was just the steps, and not the whole enchillada.

For clarity I am playing Widow Twankey in the panto. To be honest the idea of the red patent high heels was vaguely appealing. Until I had to wear the chuffing things. How women (and some men) can possible find any sort of comfort or pleasure in wearing these things is beyond me. Clearly invented by the Marquis de Sade - they really hurt. Clearly, my pounds per square footage doesn't help - but even so...

Anyway, as I said, the rehearsal was good. We got our finale working which was nice. I think we over-estimated our ability by preparing for an encore. This is after all - am amateur production, and when I say amateur - I mean amateur.

This is my first go at blogging. Not even sure if this is the right terminology to be honest, and have always felt it to be a bit on the geeky side. However, having recently honed my social awareness through facebook and twitter I feel ready to blog (again, not sure on convention here).

After many years in IBM and Lotus and after the furore over Social Computing I felt it was time I took to writing a blog. Currently, I have no idea what I am going to write about. However, given that I am 1 month into setting up my own company and am 3 weeks away from appearing in my first pantomime, I feel a little "Lord of the Rings" dual storylining coming...

Feel free to comment on, laugh at or support my blog. I hope it entertains, amuses, informs... If not, at least it will have kept you off the streets scaring old ladies (unless of course you are reading this on your mobile of course).