OneAndOneIs2

As regular readers (both of them) will know, I left my office job last year to retrain as a science teacher.

In both of these positions, I devoted a lot of time to, and ultimately wrote howto's on, the subject of getting web access through restrictive firewalls - so it's probably not going to shock you to learn that neither of these were enjoyable enough that I've any desire to go back to them.

So I had a lot of time to think as I went round Europe, and it seemed to me that I'm really not suited to working in a 9-5 job. Co-workers annoy me, stupid management decisions annoy me, being sabotaged by teamwork annoys me, being expected to "work my way up the ladder" annoys me... the regular income is the only good thing about it. And even that's not all that much of an incentive.

So if you don't want to work your way up the ladder, what's the alternative? Make your own ladder! People will actually vie amongst themselves to add rungs to it for you!

I had a lot of time to think as I travelled - there's not much else to do when you're on train journeys that can last anywhere up to a day - so I devoted a fair amount of time to coming up with ideas for something I could successfully make, market, and sell.

I came up with a number of ideas. Mostly, though, they all required more expertise or startup capital than I was likely to be able to supply - these would be better as businesses to set up AFTER I had already got at least one successful business behind me.

But one idea, which came out of my vast storehouse of science trivia, seemed tailor-made for a first-time startup. I could do it by myself to start with and hire people as demand for the product grew; it would be relatively low-cost to start up; and it's for a market that, even in these financially troubled times, is still growing - so there's plenty of room for me to start and expand.

The only downside was, it was all fine in theory but I really did need to test if it would work in practice before I started applying for patents and asking for funding for a company.

So the weekend before last, I hit ebay and ordered what I needed to test the theory. The donut who was selling it later contacted me to say that he was away for the week and had forgotten to stop his ebay shop selling stuff, so the item only arrived yesterday. Due to a broken doorbell, it wasn't left here, so I collected it from the post office today. And duly tested it.

And it works.

...

Very well, in fact.

...

So now there's nothing to stop me turning idea into reality.

...

And that's scary!

In order to finance the company, I'll be applying for government grants. These are far more available in the less-commercial parts of the country. i.e. anywhere out of the south-east, where I currently reside.

So I'll have to head north, at least as far as the midlands, to set up. So I've got to look into moving to an area where I don't really know anyone, and finding a place to live that won't object to the fact that I don't actually have an income.

I'll need to get the ball rolling on applying for at least two patents, something I know nothing about. I'll have to learn an awful lot very fast or hope to be able to afford a lawyer and an accountant to do things for me. I'll have to apply for loans so I can afford things like company premises and raw materials.

It's very easy to say "I want to start up my own business and sell my idea!"

It's very hard to do it.

I am slightly stressed at the moment.