Starting a bushcraft School

[Broch]

I don't know owt about Bushcraft schools (@Wayne has some great points above), but I do own and run my own small business in a particular technical niche. I set it up when I was made redundant several years ago when it was the fashion in my sector to make persons deemed "unproductive overheads" redundant. Basically if you were an older technical non-frontline person with deep knowledge/experience, you went.

When I finished with my employer, the following day I continued working with them as a specialist contractor. The redundancy payment and some ad-hoc work with them helped me during those first 2 critical years. After those first 2 years I was starting to do OK with a developing customer base, but then a year after that we had COVID and it was back to first base. I got square root of **** all from the govt, but thankfully had built my reserves, had no debts and had low outgoings (I'm a service business with no premises, I work on customer sites or from home) so I survived. Battered, skint and without debt- but I survived. I was one of the lucky ones.

It's taken another 3 years to rebuild and realign since then, and even tho I'm in a specialist technical niche, my market has changed considerably. A whole chunk of my business has.... gone.... and will never return. (On the bright side tho, most of the other people doing what I did were a few years older and retired permanently, so less competition).

The government bureaucracy increases every year for a small business and no matter how technically good you are, you also need to learn a bunch of other skills e.g. financial, marketing and the behemoth of govt requirements, the (various) tax(es) being top of the list.

Insurance premiums have gone up too since COVID and if I didn't already have good cover it would be much more difficult to get now. Opening a business bank account with a mainstream provider gets more difficult every year.

Once you get the customers, getting them to actually pay the full amount due in good time is another matter entirely (especially when you work business-to-business).

Qualifications, competence, maintaining CPD etc is another can of worms. Then there's marketing, social media presence etc.

To @Lime2023 :

There's MUCH more to running a business than having the interest and technical skills.

Sorry if that's cynical, but it's real life.

GC

Yep, ran my own technology business for 30 years - it was easy except for the problems with customers, staff, and suppliers

 

[GreyCat]

@GreyCat would you go back to normal employment if you could? Or are you happier with your current setup?

Hmmm, that's a difficult one. Probably not by choice if truth be told.

My best case is to make the "baseload" work for 3 days/wk a bit more secure and diverse, then there's a couple of days a week flexible time available to the extent that I want to accept work to fill it. Don't think I could go back to the standard site-based 9 to 5. In truth, the only reasons I survived "standard employment" before for so long was because I did a lot of site-based work out of the office.

I'm just not a natural office person, I can't abide the politics which always arise when more than 2 people work together in a small indoor space. Being a contractor makes it MUCH easier to stay out of any organisational/office politics. And when I do need to do desk-work, I need solitude.

You're also partly right about innovation.....in that you can innovate, but building a new business out of it is really difficult. I did some development work last year which looked really promising, we achieved a great proof of concept, but the market is just not willing to invest in it yet- and may never be if truth be told.

Also, the govt grants for "innovation" tend to go to the blaggers who promise the impossible as a means of living off grant streams, rather than to those who are less flashy but have a good idea with solid underpinnings. There's a huge lack of appreciation of the importance of "real life practicality" amongst our governing classes I'm afraid.

GC

 

[Suffolkrafter]

Yes, I've known, and work with, quite a few people who have set out on their own as consultants, either or their own volition or following redundancy. They all seem to have had the right skill sets and experience at the right time, along with the will to make it happen. And the right personality. But it's clearly a lot of very hard work and stress.
Still, to be made redundant and manage to turn it into an opportunity is something I admire.
It's something I've been thinking about a lot recently actually, different personality types, and the ways in which a person's personality impacts what they do in life and what they achieve. The older I get (I'm not that old) the more I come to understand what it is about me personally that has influenced my choices and what I've managed (or not managed) to do in life.
Funnily enough, I've just watched season 7 of alone and it is really apparent in the contestants, how their different personality traits nudge them out of the competition or drive them to make errors, or allow them to see it through. It is true when they say that stress shows you your true colours.
Sorry, going fairly badly off piste here.

 

[GreyCat]

Yeah, lot of truth in that.

But never underestimate the motivation of desperation.

When your options narrow to one viable one, it's quite motivating. The stress is there anyway, and TBH, when you are working on a mix of desperation and hope, you don't realise the pitfalls that await you. Typically you drop into them during the first 2 years, which is why if a small business makes it through the first 2 years it will usually survive (all things being equal and things like COVID not happening!). I made LOADS of mistakes, most of which cost me money one way or another, and again when your budget is limited and you work hard for your cash, you learn really quickly.

You're not going that far off-piste, it is indeed about how we react to failure, and a lot of it IMO is how you are brought up. Having failures early on and learning how to recover from them is critical too. Some people never learn.

Also- it's what you decide is worth doing. Sometimes you need to realise you made a mistake in starting something, and that it's not a problem to give it up. What you see on Alone is a bit artificial- if it was "for real" and there was no "opt out" then I think the responses would be different in at least some cases.

GC

 

[Lime2023]

I doubt you'll get a reply from the OP as he's not been seen on the forum since his one and only post
View attachment 84283

Thanks!

Running a successful Bushcraft school is hard work and not an easy way to make a living.
You meet lots of wonderful people, occasionally travel to some interesting locations but often it’s as mundane as any other job. Cleaning kit. Loading equipment and carrying it through muddy fields.

Building a loyal customer base is challenging. I’m fortunate I get a lot of repeat custom.

I will use BCUK for an example. I’m one of the early members. A mod and a regular at the Bushmoots from the very first gathering. We have hosted many local gatherings over the years. Yet when people post asking for recommendations for bushcraft courses the same few big names get trotted out like Paul Kirtley or Mr Mears. It’s not a whinge just an observation that if you want to succeed your much better off being an average bushcrafter and a fantastic self promoter.

Find your own style and develop your skills in areas that most interest you. I focus on the craft side of bushcraft and the cooking. Others are great Flint knappers or leatherworkers etc.

Remember bushcraft is a very saturated industry with a vast number of schools offering courses in the basics with new ones popping up daily. Often run by enthusiasts with good primary incomes so can afford to run a few courses a year at very low rates compared to others trying to work full time and pay the bills.
My local Wildlife Trust offers bushcraft experience days for £15 per person. No way I can compete with that.

Thanks for your insights!

 

[GNJC]

I've no experience running a business to do with bushcraft, but have done so in other fields and can tell you that the above is all spot on. Regardless of what you are doing, some truths are simply universal.

For myself, I'd be reluctant to advise anyone but a paying customer, my family or a very good friend. However, I will offer a few of bits of guidance...

Before starting on your plan, if at all possible have a fair amount of cash set aside; this is in addition to what you you intend for the business, and it is not to be used for the business. It's in case things don't go the way you hope and to tide you over until you are doing something viable.

Before starting, discuss the idea with people whose opinions you respect - you don't even have to like them; ask them to tear it to pieces, point out the weaknesses etc..

If you ever employ anyone, in any given situation when things go right, look at who you would have blamed if they had gone wrong - that's the person to thank. Lastly, don't give up too easily, but don't waste your time if something clearly isn't going to be a goer.

Best of British!