If only I'd known...

Talk to nursery owners about their experiences in starting their businesses and they all have their horror stories to tell. Familiar themes emerge - the building work that took far longer than expected, delays with planning permission and budgets that did not stretch where needed. But would-be nursery owners can learn from these problems.

Carrie and Lee Johnson opened their nursery, Kids in Bloom, in West Derby, Liverpool, in June after two-and-a-half years of planning. Lee says their local Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership gave general information, but more specific advice was harder to find. 'We were in a really grey area,' he says. 'It was very difficult to get advice and information from anyone.' However, Liverpool Council's planning department were more helpful in making suggestions about the kind of building and location they should look for, and the local Business Link were 'absolutely brilliant' and helped develop a business plan. Lee says he cannot emphasise enough the importance of building a realistic contingency budget. 'I feel that we tried to underestimate our figures to make us seem more favourable to banks, but that's the wrong way to do it,' he says.