Zagato wrote:

Good luck with the venture Ben

For a London Borough I used to manage all the Youth Clubs, Princes Trust groups, School XL groups etc and Co-ordinate all the DofE groups, Scout groups, Church groups, Crime outreach programmes etc as well.

Outdoor activities especially residential activity weeks played a big part in this work as you know as a Youth Worker.

There is so much to go through on one post but if you are allowed camping and you can tap into the cheaper end of the activities market then you should be able to trickle on if you can also utilise a local climbing wall, water sports centre etc in your area. It would provide a fuller experience for groups which is what is demanded to be able to put a qualitative programme together. If you can do this then you can tap into regular scheduled earnings, just one Princes Trust unit will have three , 5 day residentials per year which is a stable income and you could also have a few of them on work experience to help you

If you were one of my staff and came to me with that site I wouldn't be a happy bunny It's a work in progress as you say - you know what you need to do e.g. Brief site/activity Health and Safety and risk assessment explanation, Insurance details, and you need to expand on the activity text e.g. team building, give a summary of the theory and how you will put that into practice with your set up with examples. Look at other activity centre sites

Loads more to do but looking to increase the variety of activities on site will help, climbing apparatus, orienteering (doesn't have to be over 10 miles in woods) Large concrete drain pipes can be half buried in an interesting layout to give young people a challenge - especially if blind folded

Loads of stuff you can do, must be very exciting. I would visit other centres for paperwork advice, pricing, programmes etc, look at all the other facilities that you can utilise in your programmes that your site doesn't offer, and go to the top of organisations to find out what groups need and are prepared to pay bearing in mind It doesn't have to be just for local groups. Many have good reasoning that you should take young people well away from their home to gain the full experience. It also deters the little from running for home when things get tough half way through their week

Good luck mate

ben_j85jty wrote:

Fully prepared for the disadvantages, I don;t think I will ever be buyiong more toys for the truck, but at least I can get out and enjoy it.

Cheers Dan, I certainly will keep that in mind as I would like some half decent shots for my website.

Once i Have some suitable events lined up I will drop you a line to discuss it further.

Great stuff. She also builds business websites by the way...I'm sure she would enjoy doing some events photography for you, plus its an excuse to get my 110 out as well.

d j hutton wrote:

Good luck with it, Ive been self employed now for quite a few years (probably unemployable by now ) and never looked back. You'll have less time to do what you want as you'll always be 'at work' but that's often a bonus.

Site is looking nice (couple of typos as you'd expect, I dare not get mine proof read!).
Air rifle shooting, fairly well up on that myself, if you haven't already it would be worth contacting local air rifle clubs as you may well be able to rent their facilities for a safe corporate event. There is a few in your area. My club does corporate days and pretty sure they would rent out the air gun ranges (25m and 50m), down in Christchurch so a bit far, but as an example.

Make sure you get a good accountant and keep good records (must be an app for that!) and you are good to go. My accountant costs me a fair bit over the year but also saves me a fair bit, tax, vat etc. Might still be worth becoming a limited company if not already.

Enjoy

DJ

Cheers DJ,

Thanks for the heads up on the air rifle clubs.

Accountancy for me is the easy bit, I live with one and she doesn't cost me (that much!) I get regularly beating with a stick to collate all my reciepts and invoices.

I decided from the outset to become a Ltd company, I felt is adds something to the integrity as there are a few others around that, having seen their work first hand, leave a lot to be desired. 2002 Defender 110 DC