So you want to start a business

In this episode Tasha Wright joins me to talk about her journey from sole trader to limited company, the challenges she's faced along the way and what to expect when starting your own business

Participants

In order of first appearance:

• Emily Slade - podcast producer and host, Prospects
• Tasha Wright - director, DPL Catering

Transcript

Emily Slade: Hello, I'm Emily Slade, and welcome to Future You, the podcast from graduate careers experts Prospects. Whether you're recently graduated, stuck in a career rut, or just curious about what else is out there we can help you take the next steps towards Future You. In this episode I talk to Tasha Wright, who along with her partner Dan set up DPL catering in East Anglia. She talks about their journey from sole trader to limited company, the ups and downs and things she's learned along the way. Hopefully her journey and advice is helpful to you, if you're thinking of starting up your own business.

Tasha Wright: I'm Tasha and I'm from DPL catering, which is a catering company I started three years ago with my partner, Dan. And I'm just going to talk a bit about how we started it and how we've recently expanded it.

Emily Slade: Amazing. So did you go to university?

Tasha Wright: I did. Yes. So I went to university a little bit later than normal. I was 21. When I went to university, I went to Cambridge, Anglian Ruskin in Cambridge. So I did commute each day into Cambridge rather than moving there just because I was a little bit older. And I already had a home and my dog and my partner I didn't feel like I wanted to move. What did you study? So I studied interior design, which at the time when I when I thought that was definitely what I wanted to do, and yeah, obviously, I don't do that now. But it's definitely been a learning hub.

Emily Slade: Yeah. So do you regret going and studying interior design? Do you wish you'd gone and studied hospitality management or something? Or do you still think that that was a good use of your time?

Tasha Wright: Yeah. So no, I don't regret it at all. Because it was always something I wanted to do. And I always thought I was going to do that. It wasn't until I was in the course that I decided this isn't for me. And I actually really miss hospitality, because that's what I'd always done before. So I feel like I had to go through that process to realise what I actually really wanted to do. And I think that's quite common. When people go to university. I think a lot of them do a course. And then their side. Actually, this isn't for me, and it leads them into the right direction.

Emily Slade: Yeah, definitely. But it still gives you some transferable skills. Would you say those transferable skills from your course you're still using?

Tasha Wright: Yeah, definitely. Like you learn so much at university. I think even in your course, you learn how to interact with people how to work as a team, how to do all sorts of things, really. And I think that's really important. Time management being organised. So I've taken all of that definitely from university to be able to start our business.

Emily Slade: So talk me through the moment that you were like, you know what, we need to start a business.

Tasha Wright: So it was actually a few years ago, it was just coming out of COVID. And we were approached by someone if we do a private dinner party for them. So almost like a private chef experience in their house, we'd go in Cook, serve it. So at the time were like, Absolutely, yes, we didn't have any idea what we were doing. But all you totally winged it, and it was fine. And then people that went to that dinner party then asked us to do some more. And they turned into different events. We do like buffets, kind of pay events, and each person that goes to them, you then get a new job normally, that's kind of how it works. You pick up your jobs from other previous jobs that you've done, and it slowly just spread into kind of a business. We didn't plan to start a business, it just kind of evolved itself.

Emily Slade: Yeah you sort of got started getting enough work that you were like, We need to stick a label on this or something.

Tasha Wright: Yeah, definitely. Because we were both working full time and other jobs anyway. So we were doing at the weekends in the evenings, it was quite intense, because we're having to work full time and do this. And it started to become quite busy. So quite quickly, Dan stopped doing his other job and made this into his full time. And then I started doing it part time now alongside of him.

Emily Slade: Okay, so you were both working in the hospitality industry full time as sort of waiting staff chefs, that sort of thing.

Tasha Wright: So we both worked in a little pub together. And Dan was head chef there, and I was just front of house. So we've always had experience in our careers have, like started in different places, but they're kind of met. And then yeah, so that's all we've ever done together. Like I've never tried anything else. Obviously, I've done interior designer university. But that's the only slightly different thing I've tried. But I know Dan has only ever done hospitality, you're not done anything else. Nice.

Emily Slade: And so when you were getting these offers to come in and do these private functions, was that specifically through the pub? Or was that just literally like the two of you because they tried the food and been like, "this is delicious, we would like some."

Tasha Wright: So it wasn't through the pub, it was through someone that knew us and knew that we did this. So it was someone outside of that, but then we do front. So now we do events for clients that used to come into the pub, and that's kind of expanded. So it's kind of the same circle of clients that we've always done things for. And then the circle just becomes bigger because more and more people want you to cater for their events.

Emily Slade: Nice. So how do you start a business like let's What, what's the basics, so you started getting more and more work? So then what was the first step in turning that into a business?

Tasha Wright: So when we started getting busier, we realised we were starting to be more organising, we needed to learn how to kind of like bookkeeper accounts. So to begin with, we got ourselves a proper accountant because we couldn't keep up with bookkeeping ourselves. It got quite confusing. So we got an accountant, we set ourselves up on Companies House because that's really important to do when your business starts picking up because you need to register everything properly. And then we've really thought about branding because we hadn't anticipated for this to happen. So we sat down and started thinking like what colors do we want to represent our asked, we need a logo and just kind of what type of brand do we want to be because that's really important that will make your business really successful because people will look you up, they'll look your website up there, look your socials up. And if it looks good, they'll inquire forever. But if it doesn't look good, then they'll probably look at the next person. So that's really important. And I found this year, that's really kind of where we are at where we are like wedding Fairs and things like that. And there's other competition of other caterers and you have to kind of be the best if that makes sense. You want the people to come to you and why why will they come to you and not the other caterer?

Emily Slade: How do you make those just I guess it's just a lot of researching of what everyone else is logo looks like, you can't look too similar to them. Yeah, you've got to stand out. But stick within the I guess aesthetic of what the vibe is at the moment. Because things like weddings especially go in like trends and what's in vogue.

Tasha Wright: Yeah, definitely. Just making yourself appealing to people I think, is really important, and being really friendly with them and chatting to them. And I think that's where we've always worked in hospitality, we've always had to deal with like the general public and things like that. So we're fairly good at that. I think. So that's really important when you start a business is definitely your brand.

Emily Slade: Yeah. Oh, fantastic. So you signed yourself up as a business. But you've expanded that now. So can you talk about the expansion? Could you talk about the expansion and sort of what that entails? And what that looks like?

Tasha Wright: Yeah, sure. So obviously, we started out as kind of like a side hustle. And now we're both doing it pretty much full time. So we decided the best option would be to get ourselves a food truck. Because a lot of weddings now that's really popular food trucks, a lot of people don't really want sit down meals, you know, some people do, and that's great. But other people want food trucks. So we saw the opportunity to go get one. So we actually bought a horse trailer, it was really rundown, it was awful. And we thought we'd combat it ourselves. Because I think there's something about doing that it makes it a bit more special to your business and your brand that, you know, we didn't just buy a brand new one, we've had to kind of paint it and convert it into a food trailer that represents our business. And that took a long time. We actually bought the trailer back in February. And we were hoping to have it done by end of March. And we actually only just finished it this weekend. So it's taken a long, long time. But it's been so worth it. Because our first event is in two weeks. So we've got it ready just in time. Yeah. But yeah, so that's kind of where we've expanded so that we've got more opportunities to go to more events and make ourselves more flexible. Because we can cook out of the food trailer, we don't have to depend on venues having kitchens, which will really help so yeah.

Emily Slade: That's yeah, that's not anything. I've even considered before. Of course, like, you'd need to make sure there's a kitchen there.

Tasha Wright: And I think so many people now are having like weddings in fields, weddings in woodlands, which is great. You can hire lots of stuff in to do that. And you can use generators and things. But sometimes it's not the most convenient. It's just be so much easier just to drive like a food truck in and yeah, plug in, you're good to go.

Emily Slade: Oh, amazing. So does that mean that you've expanded the business at all?

Tasha Wright: So how it worked was Dan was a sole trader and he kind of was freelancing himself and the money kind of went into him as a sole trader. But because we're now both doing it, we changed from him to be a sole trader to both of us having a limited company together, which is much more efficient when you are busy. For everything to be in one place both our names are on it. We're both obviously directors of it. We both make the decisions together. And it's just much more organised when you're sole trader it's really difficult when you become busy. You know when it comes down to doing your tax return is absolute nightmare when you've been like had a really good year because it takes forever to match everything up. When you're like a limited company. It's a lot easier to organise all that because use different programs that kind of sorted it all out for you say yeah, definitely worth doing. Yeah.

Emily Slade: So what does that entail the the conversion from sole trader to limited company like what did you have to sit down and do?

Tasha Wright: So we thought it would be quite simple. And I think it's simple if you understand the process, but we definitely didn't like that. It's just not what we all get out. So we actually did get an accountant to do it for us. So we registered our limited company with companies house so we had to pick a name and then that gets registered. And then they kind of closed down Dan as a sole trader and transfer over they did it for us. I can't really give you the ins and outs but I think if you are going to do it, definitely get yourself an accountant because they do it every day and if you make mistakes you can get in trouble. Like, yeah, like, even when we registered our company, we did do that by ourselves. We did it wrong. So we did really wrong. I don't know how I think like even just putting like your full name in, we didn't put Dan's middle name in or something.

Emily Slade: And you get so many different codes and activation codes that you all have to keep it really safe in one place. Because otherwise, it will just be a nightmare, like further down the line. So all I can say is just get an accountant. Because they'll do it all for you.

Emily Slade: Yeah, that's fair. And because your business was growing, because you were getting more and more clients, you were able to put take the money out and invest in that sort of thing that was going to help you grow.

Tasha Wright: So last year, we did because we did quite a few dinner parties, we kind of saved that money, we put it into a separate account, I thought about that the money we have from the catering. And this year, we decided it was a good time to reinvest that money into buying the food truck, we've spent a little bit money on branding as well, like new business cars, new uniforms, like T shirts, aprons nice, because now our events getting bigger, we've got staff coming in to help us so it's good to have them in the right T shirts with our logo on which again, will help us get more jobs in the future because people will look at it and go, Oh, they're from deeper. Okay. So that's really important.

Emily Slade: Nice. And so now again, because you're a limited company, you can take on, you can always delegate you can take on staff, you can and then that means you can start catering up to 500 as opposed to like just 25.

Tasha Wright: That's definitely, like you obviously need to get yourself insurance and licenses certificates. Depending on what you're doing, though, that is important. But we can do basically a lot more because we we are insured, we've got the right trading licenses now. So we are like a functioning company, where before we were just kind of doing on the side. So yeah, we can have staff, we can do all sorts really. Basically, we've kind of opened ourselves up so that we can take on any event where before we were a bit like oh, that might be a bit big for us at the moment. But this year, we can pretty much do anything, which is really exciting.

Emily Slade: That's so fun. So what is what does the future look like for you? Are you heading to Latitude? What are you doing?

Tasha Wright: I did say to Dan, I would have loved to have taken off your track to Radio One big weekend, I would have been so cool. Maybe for next year.

Emily Slade: Hope you're listening Radio One.

Tasha Wright: Yeah, please get us in on that. We'd love to do that. But so this year, we're just doing like small food and drink festivals with the food trucks. So we're at Colchester food and drink Festival, which is at the end of the month. Nice. And then we're doing Aldeburgh Food Festival as well, which we're really excited about that was something we wanted to do. But we didn't think we'd get a place this year because we're not like a huge company at the moment. But somehow we did get a space. I'm really, really excited about that. And we've just got some like private events going on. But next year, I think our plan is to do more weddings, like we really enjoyed doing weddings. They are like really exciting days. They're long days, they're such special days with people. And the whole process or like build up to the wedding with the client is really fun, because you're designing menus for them for that a special day. And going through lots of like details. So we've really enjoyed that. So hopefully next year, that's kind of our main thing that we'll be doing.

Emily Slade: That's really exciting. So you're currently sort of based in the East Anglian area. Do you think especially now that you're on wheels that you'll start heading? West or North or South more?

Tasha Wright: Yeah, I mean, we are open to anywhere really, if we get an inquiry, we'll try and make it work. It kind of depends where it is, I think our trailer can really only go so far. Like, I'm not sure how far that is at the moment. Because obviously, it's quite a slow, you can't drive at the same capacity as you would in a car. So you have to go a bit slower. But for instance, we are fair, this event at the moment is about two hours away. So we're happy to travel because I think it's worth it sometimes. And we're traveling for clients that we have catered for, for the last year. So we kind of build up that relationship that we will travel that far, we will always say like if we do get inquiries, we're always trying to make it work. It just really depends.

Emily Slade: Yeah, nice. So you've built a business, you've gone from sole traders to a limited company. What three things can you think of that were huge mistakes? Where did you fail? Where did you trip up?

Tasha Wright: So we, at the beginning of the year, we definitely rushed into decisions because we were getting really excited about the future. And we made decisions without thinking which is a really bad idea. Like take your time over a decision. You don't need to rush it like I think there's that pressure to go like, this is what I want to do. So I'm going to do it now. Like just don't do that. Have some time thinking about it because it's easy to make mistakes when you're not thinking straight and you're overexcited about something Okay, so yeah, definitely take your time, be organised. Like, even if it just means having a folder for separate things, no matter whatever it is your businesses like for us, we have different events, we have a folder for each event. And yeah, because if you're not organised, you're making life so difficult when it comes to like needing whatever you need.

Emily Slade: So when you're talking about folders for different events, that's like, where you keep your receipts, your invoices?

Tasha Wright: Yeah, any correspondence.

Emily Slade: So then if you need that later on, if your taxes or bookkeeping or all of those sorts of things, then you've got them. You've got it on the shelf, you can pull it down and be like, right, this is when we did Dave and Sara's wedding.

Tasha Wright: Absolutely. I think, especially when you're a limited company is vital. You keep every receipt, any money that you taken out the business, you need to be able to show why you've taken out the business and it does relate to the business. So keep everything because you will get questioned like so where did this £100 go? Or what was you doing here, so just keep every little bit of paperwork, don't throw anything away. But nowadays, it's like really helpful. So you can use things like QuickBooks, so any and that will connect with your bank account for your business. So any transactions happening, it will pick up a message saying, Have you got a receipt or invoice that you can connect to this transactions? So come the end of the year, it should be really easy to kind of know what's going on or what's been going on. Because in 10 months time, if your accountant asked you, oh, what was you spending this money on? You can't? Do you have no idea? So yeah, that's definitely vital. Nice. And last bit of advice, I think, I think, just be positive. And like, if there's something you want to do, go and try it. Don't be scared to try because we all make mistakes. And it's okay to make mistakes. So my advice would be don't hold back, just go for it.

Emily Slade: I mean, it's clearly paid off for you guys.

Tasha Wright: Yeah.

Emily Slade: What did you wish you knew at the beginning?

Tasha Wright: There's lots of things. I wish I had probably educated myself a bit more in how to start a business, read a bit more about it, rather than jumping into it. I think the reason we did jump into it, because things started building up quicker than what we anticipated. But I just had no knowledge in it at all. So yeah.

Emily Slade: I guess it's funny, isn't it, your business sort of grew from this, this work that just kept appearing? And so it sort of was was an organic, natural step for you guys. Yeah. Whereas maybe someone listening to this might already like might not necessarily have the work lined up yet. And they're sort of starting from the beginning. So I think it's really useful to hear both sides of like, well, we had the work and we sort of jumped into it and thinking back to it. Now, we should have done this, or we might have thought about this a bit more.

Tasha Wright: Yeah, I think like look at if you're thinking about starting a business, look at where the businesses like where are your clients, where your customers, how you're going to reach out to them how you're going to find them, because you do constantly. Even though I say we get jobs coming naturally, I still reach out to people, I still make applications, I'm always active, like, that's what I do during the day. So I'll work from home, and I'll be on my laptop. And I'll be kind of reaching out to people saying, This is what we do, does it interest you? Because you always want to know you've got enough work coming in, especially when you work for yourself, because you want to know the next five months is fine.

Emily Slade: Yeah, just for peace of mind, do you have a sort of limit of the amount of jobs that you need to have in the diary to feel like you're gonna be able to reach Christmas safely?

Tasha Wright: Yeah, I mean, it's one of these things. So every job is so varied, like budget wise. So some jobs are a lot bigger than others. So we normally kind of look at the income that we can predict the income for October, because we know what we're charging for those jobs. So really, we look at rather than the amount of jobs, the size of the jobs and how much money we know will come in that month. And that's how we know it's going to be okay. Luckily, it seems to all fall into place. But you definitely have to work at it. Like I will now be looking at events for next summer. So this year is all sorted. And I'll be actively sorting our diary for next summer, just so we know that it's all good.

Emily Slade: I think I touched on what the future sort of looks like you've now invested in the horse box. And that's going to go to various weddings and things. So the events are going to get bigger. Do you have to set out or do you choose to set out sort of five year plan a 10 year plan a 15 year plan? Do you see a future where you can be sat in an office and the business runs itself? Or does that fill you with fear and you'd much rather be on the road with the food?

Tasha Wright: Yeah, so it's one of those things we've only recently spoken about because because I am come from home a lot, we are going to invest in like a little garden office because I need that space. So Gemini Tuesday to Thursday, I'll be doing like admin stuff. And then Friday to Sunday we'll be prepped for an event or a event by always want to be like out at the event, like I'd hate to be stuck in the office all week like that is just not for me. So unfortunately, there has to be like office time, when you have your own business, like you can't avoid it. So I try and get it all out the way we have at the beginning of the week. And that so that I can be available at the weekends to help with the event. And I think realistically in like the next 5-10 years, we would like to probably work eight months of the year, quite solidly, and then have the next few months like the winter months off. because not a lot happened in the winter. And just like fully relaxed because it is hard, like hospitality is busy. Like if you're doing weddings, you're doing events, a lot is going on.

Emily Slade: And they're long days long weekend on your feet as well.

Tasha Wright: Yeah. Which Luckily, we've always done. And I think anyone that knows or worked in hospitality will know that if you can either do it or you can't do it, like, I couldn't sit at a desk all day. I don't know how people do it. Where some people can't stand up all day. Like I think we're all made to do different things anyway. So yeah, we will always be involved with that, I think definitely.

Emily Slade: What's your one bit of advice for someone looking to start their own business, your biggest, biggest bit of advice?

Tasha Wright: I would say, sit down and really plan out what you want to do, like what is your business goal, how you're going to get there, just have that written down somewhere that you can keep referring to. Because when you start your business, you will have bad days, and you'll have days where you feel like you're just not getting anywhere. But you will eventually get there. So don't give up. At the beginning of this year. Me and Dan had a lot going on in the sense of, we didn't think we were gonna get much work this year, because we had turned a lot of work down for various reasons. And we had to rebuild our clientele up again. And I think that was really hard to keep motivated because we couldn't see past like how we're going to do this, like we were in panic mode where like, we've got no work for the year because we thought we had something else going on. And that didn't work out. So just go back to your first plan. And keep thinking like it is gonna be fine. This is what I'm doing. This is my goal. And just keep pushing forward. Like even when you have bad days.

Emily Slade: Amazing. That's all really really great stuff. Thank you so much for your time today.

Tasha Wright: Thank you for having me. I've really enjoyed being here.

Emily Slade: Thank you so much for listening, if you're enjoying Future You, or you got something out of that episode we’d love it if you could drop us a review on Apple or Spotify, and give us a follow. Each week we'll be diving into a new course, learning about a new job, or answering your burning career questions. For even more information on how to start a business, you can head to Prospects.ac.uk, or find Prospects on Instagram and TikTok - all the links are in the description. Once again, thanks very much for listening and good luck on your journey to Future You.

Notes on transcript

This transcript was produced using a combination of automated software and human transcribers and may contain errors. The audio version is definitive and should be checked before quoting.

Find out more

• Read more about Tasha's journey.
• Take a look at how to start a business.
• Leave a review for Future You.
• Discover DPL Catering.