Tax man is after me!

So HMRC are coming after me and I've got a story to tell that I think is a lesson. A lesson for new business owners. Lesson for anyone that wants to start a business. And I think a lesson that the government should be listening to too. So this story starts with an idea that I had. I've been trying to teach people business and give people agency over their life. Since I have come back to the UK about ten years ago. I went quite heavy on it on social media about six years ago, and now I built up 25 million followers online. I get 500 million views a month. I tried to teach people for free that they can have agency over their life. What I've noticed is that a lot of people will highlight they can't start a business, and a lot of them are legitimate. If you don't have any money, how can you start a business? If the UK ecosystem and the tax system don't encourage you to start a business, then what's the point of going over the VAT threshold for? So I decided to launch a business, act like I've got no money. Of course I've got money, but I wanted like I've got no money and figure out how to launch a successful business or failure. By the way, this business launching is called Dream Brew. Okay, this is it. And I'm quite happy to accept that it could fail. And I think this is I tried to teach. So I can't be a hypocrite if it fails. You are no longer I'm a guru, but what I'm going to do is try to not let it fail. First of all, second is show you every single week starting from this week, every Thursday I'm going to drop a video with what I've learned, what's happened, and I'm going to be as transparent as I can. As long as it doesn't I'm going to be as transparent about the highs and lows learned along the way. So for the last three weeks, I've been defending the UK almost permanently. People talking about the business ecosystem here in the UK, and I've been saying that the UK is like anywhere, it has its pros and cons and you can build in the UK and it can work. And then HMRC come and punch me in the face of trading of my new business and try to knock that belief out of me. What's happened. We're actually seven days into launching Dream Brew. It has actually taken a year to get to a point where we have a product that I'm proud of. We built a store and buy it from, and I'll go into all the nuts and bolts of the last year and a half in a minute. But what I want to share with you is I got a letter through from HMRC saying that we potentially owe them £10,500 VAT. Now we are one week into trading the business and what do HMRC do they come at us for VAT? We haven't and this definitely upsets me because I think if I can afford throw at me, right, if I, if I had to default back into I've got money, I'll just pay it. Right. about you. I'm thinking about the people out there that start a business. You're excited, you put all your energy into it and you're like, I've made it happen. I've taken an idea and I've made it real. I've raised the money, I've made the product, I've put it out there. What's your first interaction with HMRC? Pay us money now. And if I got this letter and I had no money, I would shit my pants and I'd be like, oh my God, what is this? This is what puts people off business, right? This system of of of of tax collecting and payment. Now I want to pay tax but give me a chance to build that business, will you HMRC? Like it sends people into panic. First interaction as a business owner I have in the first week, pay us money. It makes me like I'm not now. I'm different because I've actually got money, to build this no money, but my brain would be in panic mode right now. It'd be like, how am I going to find 10,536 pounds to pay HMRC? What is this? Now I'm going to spend money to figure out what's going on. All day long today I'm no longer I'm thinking about HMRC coming after me. If I was HMRC, I would literally send a note, a nice letter, you've opened up your business. This is what we do with revenue. You know, profit and tax. We try to make the world a better place. Here's some helpful resources for your type of business. Here's some grants we're trying to encourage businesses to thrive in the UK. Here's an AI helpline to help you ensure your business works. And don't worry, this letter doesn't mean you have to spend loads of money on an accountant, what the fuck we're talking about. It's not hard to be nice, even if you're a government, right? They're saying this letter, it's VAT. The thing is, it's not even VAT registered yet. It's not even it's one week oldest business. So why go so heavy before we even have a chance to breathe? So look, I want to share the highs every single week of building this business. This one just hit me as I should start documenting this journey. The year and a half. Building this business up has been a little bit of a few things. One is I continue to build up my social media, even if you're not sure going to build or you're going to sell, you should have a personal social media strategy. Put up a video a day talking about what you don't know what to build, put up a video a day talking about your job or don't love it. Build up a personal social media because one that my social media now I've built it up is so powerful is one post like this and launch a new channel. Right? I can do a video about the product and maybe sell one. It doesn't cost me anything because it's organic. That people aren't building a personal brand they don't like being on camera. Maybe that's the content I don't like being on camera, but here I am. I know I have to do it. It is something you have to do these days because it's me. You can see me. This is Simon Squibb. You can check my history. When you buy my product, you're backing me. You're back in my mission to fund people's dreams. Those stories matter. Personal brand your differentials when it comes to AI. An investor. I got a partner on board to help me make the business work. So I pitched the idea to an investor. A friend now wasn't a friend when I knew him. I knew him one week. Nick Pritchard. I knew him one week the idea to him, and he invested and supported so that gave us I'm going to go through all the economics because I do think if everything carries on, the trajectory is on, we will be profitable within a month, which I guess is exciting. Again, I've done it without my own money. A lot of people well, I want to remove that as a reason that it's working. And I wanted to talk about branding. We took a year to get the trademark again. You have to lay the groundwork. Get the trademark for Dream Brew. That we weren't going to get sued by somebody else. And I also tried a few things along the way. My original thesis for the coffee business I wanted to show you, not tell you, how to build a business. We're going to do over a week going forward. I'm not sure you've got for this sort of content. I don't want to make this first one too long. If this is something you want to see regularly, then subscribe to Let me know down below. Say more, let me know and I will make a video to try and help you and teach you, not just tell you how to do it, but show you what happens. And my side? And hey guys, it might fail. I don't want it to. With your help, it won't, but I'm willing to document. Even if I make a mistake, I'm willing to show you what I do wrong, even experienced entrepreneur. This is the best way for you to learn how to build a business, we're all a bit just telling you how to do it right. For your help. The money I make I'm going to put back into making it better. I'm going to make back into funding people's dreams, create physical space in the long run, where we can all hang out and dreamers can help dreamers. Let me know what you think. Speak soon.