A former bomb disposal expert from the Chester area is championing a debt-free approach to setting up a business.
According to Steve Burgess, budding entrepreneurs do not have to saddle themselves with huge debts to get their enterprise up and running.
Steve Burgess, 38, set up his consultancy firm BQMC to help firms comply with national and international standards after leaving the RAF.
The firm recently moved into larger premises on the Wales-England border at the Evans Business Centre, Chester West Employment Park, Minerva Avenue, on the outskirts of Chester.
The new offices, just on the Flintshire side of the border, were officially opened by Alyn and Deeside MP Mark Tami.
Steve has now also set up a new commercial operation, Proactioneer, offering courses for people who want to follow in his footsteps.
Proactioneer is organising a one-day course at the Grosvenor Hotel, Pulford, on Saturday, August 10, when he will explain the secrets of successful business start up.
Steve said: “We are passionate about helping people who want to make a fresh start in life.
“When you set up a business there can be a lot of worries, not least about how you are going to finance it and do the book-keeping, how to create a website.
“What we’ve come up with is a very simple, cost-effective training course that focuses on helping people to start a business who haven’t got much money at all, and would like the opportunity to start a business.
“On that basis, we’re only charging £20 a head and we’re holding it on a Saturday so that people who are currently working for somebody else can come.
“The course is designed to give them the framework and the confidence to move forward and our mission is to help them to have a greater understanding at very little cost.”
”A lot of people think you need to go straight to the bank to borrow lots of money and spend a vast amount on marketing.
“What people really need to be focusing on doing is growing their own intelligence, growing their own knowledge, and investing their time in a little bit of education and doing a bit of research on the internet and asking others.
“A better understanding about business and the market they’re aiming for gives them the opportunity to make balanced decisions in the future.”
Steve has written an appropriately-titled free mini book on the subject to download, The 7 explosive reasons why people are afraid to start a new business, about discussing the barriers that people face when starting a business.
He added: “When they are growing the business maybe they might need a bit of support from a bank or an institution like that, but what it’s about is giving them that understanding at first so when they start their business, they start it with zero debt, which increases their chances of survival.
“It gives people a platform in the future to make a sound balanced decision, instead of going straight for a loan at the outset.
“Our training courses tell you what you need to know about keeping your costs to a bare minimum, so we can help those who have little or not very much money, that would like to start a business.”
Steve speaks from experience as he started BQMC with only a laptop when he left the RAF.
At the time, he wasn’t able to afford to pay for a book-keeping service so he learned how to do it himself.
He built his own website and got to grips with search engine optimisation to push it up the Google rankings.
He said: “I just had a normal education, left school at 16 with not very many qualifications, so if I can do it then anybody else can.
“The aim is to help budding entrepreneurs break down barriers and explode the myths around business start ups.
“BQMC was started from pretty much nothing, a computer and a lot of research, much of it on the internet and talking to the right people.
”On the course, we talk about debt and how to avoid certain traps that people may fall into. We talk about how to develop and encourage family members to give support.
“Proactioneer is about protecting people, showing that debt is not always the answer and protecting their businesses until micro business owners can make sound financial decisions based on their own experiences.
“Often, the answer is to start on a part-time basis, spending perhaps an hour or two a day and eventually a day growing the seed of your idea into a successful business that will give you a good living and a great deal of satisfaction.”
For more details, visit www.proactioneer.co.uk, call 01244 571655 or email be-proactive@proactioneer.co.uk.
