The goal this week - a business course and mentoring…

Do not underestimate the time it will take to set up a printer, or complete the paper work for applying for insurance, or waiting for IRD to call back, or jumping through hoops to get on a business/mentoring course…

I swear that my flash new printer was designed to torment. In the end, I reckon that a combination of elderly computers (yes, I tried a few that were lying around home, all circa 2014 or older) and trying to use a wifi network where I am a guest has been problematic. Turns out that I can actually run everything from my iPhone, which is weird, but now I have a solution to my printing/scanning needs. It’s not elegant, but it works. Allow a day or two to figure the printer out.

Now, insurance… wow. Turns out that I need all sorts of insurances, including general liability, professional indemnity, cyber something, and social engineering (!) And how am I placed for income protection? Health cover? Kiwisaver? Who is your accountant? Solicitor? Contract lawyer?… And these application forms are up to 9 pages long including questions about tax year dates, business area breakdown, overseas interactions, percentage of income from each business area, how are you exposed in the market? where and how much is your potential risk?… All excellent questions for an established business in an area that is usual, but it is like another language to me. Allow at least a day for these applications.

I’d like to go on a course that is offered by the local government business organisation, to learn some basics and get some mentoring hopefully. That’s a good idea. Before I do that, according to the rules I need to enrol with Work and Income NZ (WINZ) and apply for income support, then I can go through the process of getting access to the course. To apply for the WINZ placement I need a number of documents, one of them is proof of IRD number. This can be done online but initially requires that I interact with the IRD telephone robot to try to find my login details and then wait for a call back from a real person because the robot decided that he couldn’t help me after about 7 minutes of ‘press 1 if you want …’ It’s the end of tax year here in NZ, and so I thought that getting to speak to a real person was out of the question, however I only had to wait 4 hours for the call back. So now I have my IRD number document, and I’ve submitted my documents to WINZ, so hopefully I can apply for the course and mentoring some time in the next couple of weeks. I also had a very helpful, some would say patronising, young lady call me to offer help with my CV and cover letters and finding jobs to apply for, and would I like to go on a 6 week programme where she follows up each week to ‘support’ me in my job search? Sure, why not. Allow another day or two to get the forms together for this course. It will be ironic that by the time I get to the course, I will have figured it all out by trial and error… Focus on the goal - getting the business course and mentoring!

In the meantime, the local government business organisation representative has been in touch and they require that I also be GST registered. This requires that I have business bank accounts ready, which the bank have overlooked to even start the process of getting ready, although they swear black and blue that they’ll be ready this week… We had that terse discussion on Monday, it’s now Friday and I haven’t heard anything… Something tells me that I should look elsewhere for banking support. Although I baulk at spending more hours filling out forms, getting documents together and then travel to another 90 minute interview, at goodness knows what establishment because the banks are all shutting down physical addresses at the moment. GST registration also requires that I pick a Business Identification Classification (BIC) number - a number from a list of numbers, each of which is attached to a description of the type of business activity. I’ve spent a couple of hours already, going in and out of all of the levels of numbers and classifications trying to find the closest description of my business area - which is tricky because I haven’t really defined it yet… It might not matter which number I pick in the end, but I want to be precise. Anyway, allow another day or two to sort out bank accounts, and the GST application, and the local government business organisation demands. Focus on the end goal - a business course and mentoring opportunity!

At some point there was a suggestion that I also ponder and fill out a business plan document. I’m not sure now who and what agency thought that was a good idea… It is a good idea, but from the books that I’ve read on business plans, I get the impression that the forms that I’m supposed to fill in are very dated… But we do what we need to do to get on the course! Allow another day to do this. And remember the goal - the course and the mentor!

This week was full of administration tasks. It’s been a steep learning curve, and I’ve only taken the first steps… But I remember my goals for this week, and I will get onto that course and I will find a mentor, and I will get insurance, and I will get bank accounts, and GST registered, and I am thankful that the printer will work for me. One day I will make a difference with this business venture, for now I’m focussing on taking the next steps to get established.

Also do not underestimate the number of people cheering you on from the sidelines. I have surrounded myself in my office with representations of wonderful supportive people, and some of them are in the photos above. The memories are precious, and they make me smile. That helps me refocus and try again. I’m not giving up this week.