Running your own business

I wish to run my own surface print business, for fashion and interior textiles.

I have done some research into what this would involve.

First I would need to look at how to acquire finance. Having carried out research on the business link website I have discovered that there are certain grants/loans available. It seems there are various different grants on offer but none seem to fit my criteria although there are small business loans that can be applied for depending on which area you live in etc. Some loans are specifically aimed at women only starting up in business as long as you have a good business plan and references and would eventually be able to provide jobs for at least one or two people. The following information is taken from the Northwest Regional Development Agency - Finance for business accessed at http://www.nwdabusinessfinance.co.uk/small-business-loans/eligibility

'The Small Loans for Businesses scheme is open to anyone in the Northwest - covering Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria.

It aimed at people already running or looking to start one of the following ventures:

• New or small business
• Trading arms of charities
• Social enterprise
• Not-for-profit organisation

The main criteria is you can show that you have tried to obtain funding from traditional sources - bank or building society for example, and been rejected. It maybe due to a poor credit score, lack of security, insufficient track record or plans that traditional lenders consider too risky.

Successful applicants MUST be able to demonstrate:

• Good management
• They are not an undertaking in difficulty
• Viable business plan
• An ability to service the borrowing required
• An inability to obtain sufficient funding from conventional sources and that the absence of such funding is exposing the business to the risk of failure to achieve its growth potential.
• The Loan will not be used to pay down existing borrowings.
• Through their business plans, should be able to demonstrate a positive impact on jobs, either through job creation or preservation.

As long as you've got a workable business plan, with the potential to create new jobs - even if it's just one or two - you can apply. You can apply for any size of loan between £3,000 and £50,000.

The scheme is open to everyone, and we particularly welcome applications from women, minority groups and businesses in deprived areas.'

The Arts Council also offers bursaries/grants for arts related activities of which I am in the process of applying for online. The Arts Council can be accessed at http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/

To enable me to produce hand printed designs, I would need a studio to work from along with the following equipment and facilities :-

Print table for screen printing, screens, an area to store the screens, an area to wash screens, an exposing unit, storage space for paints, squeegees, emulsion, drying unit, dyes, fabrics, transfer press, steamer, etc.

I could acquire most of this equipment second hand off Ebay but it would still be fairly costly and quite a large investment in the beginning. The best option would be to work from home in the beginning. This would keep costs at a minimum, as I start to build my business, and I would not have to worry about paying studio rent. I already have a small studio in my garage large enough for sketching and working on my design process. There is not enough room for printing but instead I could pay for the use of printing facilities to produce my final designs/collections.

There is an open print studio in Salford called Hot Bed Press where I could carry out my printing for a small fee. I have researched the printing facilities they offer, their costs and opening times which are shown below. Images and info accessed at http://www.hotbedpress.org/show_title.phtml?category=[1]about%20us&ref=0

Hot Bed Press (HBP) is a not-for-profit open access print workshop, dedicated to supporting anyone with an interest in printmaking, and in promoting printmaking to a wider audience. The studio is located in the Chapel Street Cultural Quarter of Salford where it shares premises with two other studio groups, (Cow Lane and Suite) and a very handy metalsmith (J. Cocker). Our facilities include equipment for screen printing, etching, drypoint, collagraphs, relief printing and other related processes. Our screenprinting is waterbased with two light boxes for photo-screenprinting and a darkroom facility for coating and exposing screens. In our etching area we have nitric acid for steel and zinc plates as well as ferric chloride and now also saline sulphate. Our aquatint is 'traditional' resin.

Opening times Monday 10.00am - 5.00pm Tuesday 10.00am - 5.00pm Wednesday 10.00am - 5.00pm Thursday 10.00am - 9.00pm Friday 10.00am - 5.00pm We also open one Wednesday evening a month until 6pm - 9pm, (usually the 1st Wednesday), and one Saturday a month; 11am - 4pm, (usually the last saturday of the month). We have a booking system for our screenbeds. It is also recommended to ring to say when you are coming in for other processes as it help us plan ahead.

studio hire /materials Members are charged an hourly rate of £1.50. A Studio Hire Cardshould be purchased for £12.00 in advance, which is then used as a credit system as the hours are used. This makes us one of the cheapest print workshops in the country! In addition the workshop has specialist materials such as inks, printmaking papers, metal, lino etc. which can be purchased with the use of a Materials Voucher. The vouchers are for £10.00, and exact amounts will be crossed off each session as materials are used. Materials are charged at very reasonable rates to encourage and support printmakers. Members are always welcome to bring their own materials in. (There are also plenty of materials such as degreasers, grounds, white spirit etc. that are provided free of charge by Hot Bed Press.) This is a simple system that means no fiddling around with money at the end of each session. In 2009 we scrapped the screen hire system and replaced it with a more straightforward charge for photo-emulsion, (£6.00 for processing a large screen and £3.00 for processing a small screen). You can still have a screen for up to a month but screen hire is not charged separately. (We have over £1,00 worth of screens and in 2009 invested over £800 in new screens!) We are aiming to invest in even more screens to satisfy demand in 2010. Members are welcome to bring their own screens in, (although we are very limited to space to store them and screens are stored at Hot Bed at the owners' risk.)

When talking to other designers about business e.g. Alex Russell and Jenny Rivers, they informed me of a few pitfalls I must be aware of to ensure my business succeeds. These include :-

Copyright - Make sure you have a copyright license and display it on designs so that they cannot be copied. And never ever copy anybody else's designs as you can get into a lot of trouble for this and it would be very costly.

Plan - Have a time limit to make your business work say, two years, and if it is not working then change it.

Net-work - Send your portfolio out to as many studios as possible to get yourself known and also arrange visits to them. Keep your blog up-dated, with good material, and link it to others - a great way of getting noticed and promoting yourself. Let potential clients know you have one so they can get an idea of your stuyle and see your work.

Trade Fairs - visit trade fairs to keep up with trends and research your market.

Agents - get yourself a reputable agent when starting out as they can take your work to trade fairs and sell it for you to keep costs down. Always read their contracts to make sure you agree to it, commission fee etc.

Work - learn to work fast as you have to produce lots of designs in a week to make money!

Adapt - Always do what the client asks for whether you like it or not.

Briefs - If you cannot finish a brief on time then let the client know as soon as possible so as not to disappoint them too much and so that you can work something out together.

Dpi - If sending images of your work out to potential clients, always use 75 or 150 dpi, never 300, so they cannot steal your ideas!

Free-lance - Remember that if you work free-lance then you will not get paid till you have invoiced your client who then could take a month or so to pay because they also may not have been paid. So you could be waiting quite a few weeks/months for money.

Help and Support - Business Link offers advice on taxes, returns, and payrolls etc and also ECCA, Enterprise Centre for the Creative Arts. ECCA also offers advice on pricing, marketing, invoicing, getting paid on time etc. ECCA can be accessed at http://www.ecca-london.org/