Small business idea

Taking care of business OUGD602

Small photography studio

Concept:
As a user and visitor of NQ photography studio in Manchester, a small business such as their own could easily be set up.
Their company revolves around renting out a one of a few large photography screens for a 4 or 8 hour slot charging around £16 an hour where the customer is left to photograph their model for this period of time.
The only outgoings of a business such as this would be the rent, the wages for the members of staff, the rolls of photography paper used as the backdrop and the electricity etc, couldn't be adding up to more than £500 a week in total for 1 member of staff managing the building on £8ph.

The business idea revolves around the building but mainly the customers bringing their own equipment and models and making use of the space, something that would require very little management but have good financial returns if busy for the majority of the week.

Location: Sheffield city center
Reasoning: Cities I am familiar with are Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester, Manchester and Leeds are already more popular for that sort of business and rent would cost more there.
Sheffield would have cheaper city center rent and also more familiar and comforting for myself as I have lived there for 18 years.

building:
AVEC
http://www.studiosandspace.com/find-a-space/2015/1/21/avec-building-studio-city-centre

http://www.studiosandspace.com/find-a-space/2014/11/11/studio-arundel-street-sheffield-s1three

Contacting:
I decided to contact the website http://www.studiosandspace.com/ in regard to AVEC to find out how much the studio space was valued at and if it fit into the category for business rate relief therefore making the rent free for small businesses.

Business rate relief

https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief/small-business-rate-relief

A way for the gouvernment to help small businesses by paying the rent on a small and unused office building. Obviously the government promoting and helping small businesses earns them money from tax and improves unemployment rates.

There are certain criteria to qualify but they generally revolve around the size of the office.
These facts are being looked into.

Overview:

If I were to attempt to set up a small business such as this in a few months time, if the rent was written off due to a 'Business rate relief' saving around £5000 per year.

The main idea for me would be to set up this company in my spare time, employing a receptionist of sort aged 18-30 who would managed the business, greet customers etc whilst I would work my full time job in Bolton. This role would not be massively stressful of challenging for anyone with basic people skills, involving greeting customers, setting up photography screens, answers the phone, replying to emails, making coffee, locking the building etc, nothing to challenging or specialist. Therefore this person could be paid Minimum wage (£6.70) - £8 or so.

The packages for the business would be for a photographer to hire the screen for £10-15 per hour and bring his models then take the shots.
A freelance photographer would be close by, such as Jamie Smith (who has plenty of photography experience) to offer another deal to the customers where he would take the photographs for £20/25 pounds per hour, editing them afterwards in his own time.


NQ photography is Manchester claims to be open 24/7, with customers booking slots using this innovating online tool, as seen below.
The downfall of being open 24/7 would be that if the studio wasnt booked or busy for a full day a person would still have to man the fort and be paid for doing so, whilst earning no money, therefore losing money. Obviously if it was the business owner doing this then no wages would be lost, but in my case it wouldnt be me due to full time commitments.

Figures:
Rent - Free / £5000per year 

Staff - Wages depending on their capabilities £6.70 - £8ph
40 hours per week = £320 x 52 weeks = £16,640


Potentially operating the business as 12 hours per day 8 til 8, for 7 days a week would equate to 84 hours =£672 x 52 = £34944 

12 x £8 = £96 per day for the staff member on full wage

A fair salary for a receptionist role.
Camera technician experience could be useful, but requiring a higher salary.


Freelance photographer -
£25ph earnt when used, pay the photographer £10/£15 per hour or so, with the other £10s paying for the screen rental.

Bills - Electricity, gas etc id estimate to be £50per week

Profit - with potential to have 2 large screens and 2 small screens on the go at one time

Charging £15ph for a large screen and £10ph for a smaller screen, if all four screens were in use in one particular hour then £50ph

a lot to expect for a small business early on in its life span.

Hypothetical situation if a week was spent fully booked and all 4 screens were rented out 12 hours ever day of the week, £4200 would be earnt per week, and then £218,000s annually.

profit figures
100% booked for a full year, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year = £218,000

50% booked in a year (likely) operating 42 hours a week = £109,000

25% booked in a year, 21 hours = £54,500

These figures are with 4 operating screens.

Paying the single member of staff £8ph, but if no one had booked to use then the staff member would be being paid but no money is being earnt.

My experience:
Rockfield media
The company that I am about to start my full time job with, Rockfield media, have their own tiny photography studio, the boss has told me that he'll be getting rid of the room, removing his equipment  and giving it back to the landlord of the building unless the boss can earn £100s per week from this photography room.

It currently has zero advertising, and no one to contact for enquiries. My personal challenge when I start work, alongside my job, is to get this photography studio earning a profit.By making a facebook page and a tab on the website for the studio, being able to contact me and book slots this should create a use for the studio therefore earning money. If £10s per hour was charged for this use, then 10 hours work would earn enough to pay for the studio.



If I can get this personal mission to be successful then I feel I could start my own photography studio as a side business to my full time job and will look into doing it further, hoping to open it in early 2017.

Graphic design
Graphic design would benefit this venture due to designing my own social media presence as well as branding the company.
I would be in charge of the social media and the public facing online personality (which will also be one of my roles at Rockfield media, giving me experience for this venture).

The graphic design and advertising skills, some of which I already have and others that I imaging ill learn during my time in full time work will benefit this project.

Organisation, people skills and management are the other skills that remain which I would consider myself very efficient at already.

Potentially names and branding for the company:

White walls
1994 / 94
AVEC (due to studio name)

Sidney St. Shooters (Sidney is name of the St.)