If you’re considering starting up your own business then you should take some time to make sure you give yourself the best chance to succeed.
Starting up a business is a big commitment for anyone to make, so you should be sure that you are passionate about your business idea and ready to sacrifice your time to take it to the next level.
Evaluate yourself and your new business
The first step for any entrepreneur is to take a realistic look at your own strengths and weaknesses and ask yourself why you want to start a business. Be honest with why you want to branch out on your own, if you’re just wanting extra money it may be best to start a side business; but if you’re really passionate about having more freedom and being your own boss then a start-up might be for you.
You should be honest with yourself about your business too, researching competition, demand and looking at your finances; how much capital will you need and how much can you afford to spend? Running your own business is a large commitment in your life, so it’s best to be sure now that you are willing to make the commitment.
Find a new business idea
Take a look around your local area; is there anything missing? Could you solve a problem for customers? While thinking about your business idea you should bear in mind problems that either you or your fellow consumers come across in your daily life, this is a great place to start building some business ideas as you will have a good idea of the demand for your product/service.
Market research
Once you have your ideas together, make sure you do some market research to find out how your target audience will receive it.
Surveying a wide range of people will help you gain a broader, more reliable view of your business’ viability and looking closely at competitors will help you decide whether to go ahead with your idea or go back to the drawing board.
Ask for help
There’s no shame in asking for advice! Speak to friends, family and business owners and get some external opinions on your start up idea. Relying too heavily on this advice could cause problems however, as advice of people connected to you may not be impartial.
Seeking advice from a professional is recommended so you can be sure that any advice given is impartial, realistic and based on your business. Our Start Up team offer free, impartial business start up support to help you assess your business’ viability, advise on finances and much more!
Write your business plan
If you’re ready to get started and have thoroughly researched your industry and business’ viability, your next step is to write a detailed business plan (our business plan template can help you get started). This will be a live document and can change as your business develops. Business plans help you to get all your ideas together and to provide clarity on what your business is all about; plus it will outline financial considerations and pull together your market research and show potential investors why they should invest in you. Our business advisers can help you put your business plan together and have also put together a short guide to what you should be considering.
Start networking
You never know who you’ll meet at a networking event or who you could end up doing business with. Any new business owner should take full advantage of networking opportunities to ensure their business and name gets out there in the local community. There’s always plenty of opportunities, even without doing business you can access the advice of experienced professionals in your industry.
If you’re unsure how to get started, our business start-up team are ready to help. They can offer private one to one appointments to discuss your business idea or you can book onto one of our start-up events.
To book an appointment or find out more about our services, call our Business Start Up Team on 0845 340 9980
